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Violence Leaves 45 Dead in Iraq
Iraqi police and military units and U.S. troops arrive on the scene of a suicide bombing outside an Iraqi army recruitment center in Baghdad, the capital.
(By Alaa Al-marjani -- Associated Press)
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"Four days later, the barber was dead and his tribe accused us of killing him," recalled Darraji, who said the barber was from a prominent Sunni Muslim tribe from the western province of Anbar. Darraji said his relatives had told the slain barber's tribesmen that they were innocent, and that the tribesmen later agreed, saying they had found the real killer. "We thought everything was over," Darraji said.
At about 10 a.m., police responded to a call from another relative who had knocked at the gate to the family's home and became worried when no one answered. Inside, they found the eight bodies and one survivor, all still in their beds, they said. There were no signs of a struggle.
In other violence Sunday, two suicide car bombers killed at least seven Iraqi customs officials at the Walid crossing point on the Iraqi-Syrian border, the U.S. Marines said in a statement. The crossing, one of three along the long border, was closed after the attacks.
Near Mosul, a police patrol was struck in a suicide car bombing, according to a statement from the U.S. military's Task Force Freedom, which has security responsibility for northwestern Iraq. Five Iraqi police officers were killed and three were wounded. And in Kirkuk, four people were killed and 14 wounded when a suicide car bomber attacked a convoy carrying the head of the city council, Jamal Shakoor. Police said Shakoor survived the explosion, which damaged surrounding buildings and shook a nearby hospital.
Meanwhile, the killing of a veteran Egyptian diplomat by insurgents in Iraq continued to stoke tension between Egypt and Iraq, as each side blamed the other for the envoy's death.
Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, reacted angrily to weekend remarks by Iraqi government spokesman Laith Kubba, who told reporters in Baghdad that Ihab Sherif was trying to contact insurgents when he was kidnapped and later killed.
"The fact that he went out without security may have been because he was on his way to make such contacts," Kubba said. "The only recommendation is that contacting these armed groups is dangerous and has repercussions." The Iraqi government has long suspected Arab governments of speaking independently with Sunni Muslim rebels.
In a statement issued by Egypt's Foreign Ministry, Aboul said Kubba's remarks were aimed at "avoiding responsibility or just spreading rumors and justifying a tragedy." The statement said an assistant foreign minister in charge of Arab affairs was asked to take up the remarks with Iraqi diplomats in Cairo.
Opposition politicians in Egypt criticized the government for sending Sherif to Iraq and said it was done to ease U.S. government pressure aimed at political reform in Cairo. "Our government is to blame for the murder of this innocent man. The government woos the Americans in order to end pressure regarding the issue of democracy," said Mamdouh Qenawi, leader of the small Constitutional Social Liberal Party.
Correspondent Daniel Williams in Cairo, and special correspondents Bassam Sebti in Baghdad and Marwan Ani in Kirkuk contributed to this report.
