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Iraq official discourages demonstrations
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-28 00:24
Iraq's interior minister warned citizens Monday not to hold protests, saying
the gatherings were an invitation for a large-scale terrorist attack. His
comments came a day after government bodyguards opened fire on a group of
employees demanding higher wages, killing one person.
Interim Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib, likely to be out of job once the
new government takes over, said the protest was among "attempts to destabilize
the situation" in Iraq. He accused the protesters of trying to enter the office
of Science and Technology Minister Rashad Mandan Omar and said the bodyguards
where just doing their job by protecting the official.
Haithem Jassim, one of three people injured in the melee, said the
demonstrators were unarmed.
Iraqis elected a new parliament on Jan. 30 in the first free elections in
50 years, but progress in forming the new government has been slow. Officials
have acknowledged that has caused a gap in some services, frustrating citizens.
But al-Naqib warned against future protests, saying they are a perfect
target for insurgent bombings.
"Iraq has witnessed more bloodshed than it should," he said. "We are
witnessing a situation in which Iraqi blood is becoming very cheap."
He added that Iraq's most-wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was
"surrounded in more than one area, and we hope for the best. He's moving between
more than one area."
Iraqi and U.S. officials have arrested several people linked to
al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq, but he has eluded detention.
Al-Zarqawi's organization has claimed responsibility for kidnappings and
killings across Iraq. On Sunday, militants posted a video on the Internet
showing the purported execution of a man identifying himself as Interior
Ministry official Col. Ryadh Gatie Olyway.
Al-Naqib outlined progress by the fledging security forces, predicting
that U.S. troops would be able to slowly begin pulling out of the country, and
that "hopefully, within 18 months we will be capable of securing Iraq." However,
he did not talk about a timeline for a complete withdrawal.
Violence continued Monday, with gunmen opening fire on a car carrying
Abdul Karim Fahad Abbass as he headed to work in Baghdad's sprawling
southeastern Doura quarter, killing the neighborhood station chief and his
driver, Capt. Falah al-Muhimadawi said.
Across the Tigris River that bisects Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded
near a police patrol in the Hay Al-Amil area, killing one policeman and wounding
five others, Capt. Thalib Thamir said.
In Musayyib, 40 miles south of Baghdad, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle
blew himself up near a police patrol that was protecting a holy shrine. Two
policemen and three civilians were killed, police and hospital officials said.
At least five other people were injured.
In the northern city of Mosul, two Iraqi army soldiers were injured when
attackers opened fire on their car, Dr. Bahaa al-Deen al-Bakry said. The two
were dressed in civilian clothes at the time of the attack, he said.
A university professor, Waad Mohammed Hussein, was also fatally shot as
he was driving from home to work in the Zanjely neighborhood, said al-Bakry
said.
Insurgents appear to be focusing attacks on Iraqi security forces, who
are slowly taking over the fight against Iraq's insurgency in an effort that
U.S. officials hope will pave the way for an eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops.
In Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, 150 special
forces and 50 border guards graduated Monday, the latest additions to Iraq's
growing security forces.
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