Mortar attack kills 12 in east Baghdad 49 minutes ago

Mortar attack kills 12 in east Baghdad 49 minutes ago



BAGHDAD - A mortar barrage slammed into a mainly Shiite east Baghdad neighborhood Sunday, killing 12 and wounding 31, police said. North of the capital, a major battle raged where residents of a Shiite city were fighting what police said was a band of al-Qaida in Iraq gunmen.

Women and children were among the dead and wounded in the Baghdad mortar attack, and some houses in the neighborhood were damaged, according to police. The victims were taken to Ibin al-Nafis and Sadr hospitals, police said.

Witnesses said U.S. helicopters were hovering above the attack site.

Hussein Saadon, 56, an owner of a small minibus station in the Ubaidi neighborhood, was soaked in blood after he drove four victims to the hospital.

"The attack occurred before noon. We heard sounds of four or five explosions, one after the other which hit central Ubaidi. We rushed to the place of the attack and we saw several houses which were hit. Two were badly damaged.

"We also saw a damaged car on the main street where one of the rockets landed. Two dead bodies were inside the car beside other wounded people," he said.

He said the district had been without electricity for several days and the people were suffering in the heat.

"It fills me with pain and anger to see an attack on such poor area where is no presence of police nor army bases or checkpoints," Saadon said.

In Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad, police said more than 1,500 people including sheiks and dignitaries had gathered near city hall to launch the counteroffensive against al-Qaida fighters who have been regularly firing mortars into the town and kidnapping residents at illegal checkpoints.

At least seven people were killed and 18 wounded in a mortar attack on Khalis on Saturday.

Police said the city militia also said they were determined to push al-Qaida fighters out of the nearby town of Hibhib, where the terror organization's former leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in an U.S. air strike.

In central Baghdad, gunmen driving several cars waylaid a minibus headed for Sadr City, the capital's Shiite enclave, and abducted 13 passengers.

The country's Sunni vice president, meanwhile, promised better treatment and a review for the inmates crowding the country's prison system in a video showing a boisterous welcome from prisoners jammed inside tarp-covered cages.

In the visit to the crowded eastern Baghdad prison released on videotape Saturday, Tariq al-Hashemi said his moderate Sunni party was working to improve prison conditions and to free the innocent, though the party itself has not taken part in the Cabinet since Aug. 1.

A Sunni political alliance, the Accordance Front, which includes al-Hashemi's Iraqi Islamic Party has pulled its five ministers out of the government, saying Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki failed to respond to a set of demands, including the release of security detainees held without charges.

Rights groups also have complained about random detentions and overcrowding in Iraq's prisons. Most of the inmates are believed to be Sunnis accused of participating in the insurgency, but critics say many are innocent and have been held for long periods without charge.

The video's release appeared timed to boost al-Hashemi's profile at a time when al-Maliki is trying desperately to shore up his crumbling government.

In it, many of the prisoners, who were jammed into outdoor wire cages covered with tarps during the Wednesday visit, shouted out complaints of mistreatment and prolonged detentions.

"There is a new procedure in the works to review your files. Just be patient for a while," he told the prisoners, often crouching to address them face-to-face below the tarp that covered the upper half of the bars.

"Those who are outside are not much better off than you. It is true that you are in prison, but at least you live in safety here, believe me you are more secure than those outside," he added.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, hosted more talks among the political factions on Saturday, seeking support for an alliance of Kurdish and Shiite parties touted as a partial solution to the crisis.

"There are some issues that have not been resolved because they require time," said Naseer al-Ani, the head of the president's office. He singled out a law on the equal division of Iraq's oil wealth.

Al-Hashemi's party has refused to join al-Maliki's new alliance, which is intended to ensure a parliamentary majority to pass key U.S.-backed legislation ahead of a pivotal progress report on Iraq due to be presented to Congress by the top commander in Iraq Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker in September.

"If they insist on not returning to the government, the participating blocs will choose other Sunni Arab figures to fill the vacant posts. The political process should not be frozen," insisted Ali al-Adeeb, a Shiite lawmaker.

During his prison visit, al-Hashemi told the inmates the authorities were working to speed up a resolution of their cases.

"I just want the names of the officers who tortured you, give me reports that mention where and when it happened and who was to blame," al-Hashemi said as he walked from cage to cage. "I will not quit advocating for your rights."

The inmates pressed against the wire, shouting and whistling in appreciation as al-Hashemi passed with a large delegation that included the Shiite Vice President, Adel Abdul-Mahdi.

Al-Hashemi acknowledged innocent men were among them, but he also urged patience.