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Iraq Restaurant Blast Kills 23, Hurts 36

By FRANK GRIFFITHS - Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq A suicide bombing ripped through a popular Baghdad kebab restaurant at lunchtime, killing at least 23 people and wounding 36 Sunday as insurgents stepped up attacks nationwide, defying two major U.S.-led offensives aimed at routing foreign fighters.

The U.S. military also announced that a Marine died Saturday during Operation Spear _ the first American death reported in the twin offensives.

The bomber detonated a vest laden with explosives at about 2:45 p.m. in the Ibn Zanbour restaurant, just 400 yards from the main gate of the heavily fortified Green Zone and is especially popular with Iraqi police and soldiers.

The explosion killed seven police officers, while the injured included 16 police officers and the bodyguards of Iraqi Finance minister Ali Abdel-Amir Allawi, police Lt. Col. Talal Jumaa said. The minister was not in the restaurant.

Elsewhere, militants staged attacks that killed at least nine people, despite two joint U.S.-Iraqi offensives _ operations Spear and Dagger _ that began earlier this week with about 1,000 U.S. forces and Iraqi soldiers each.

Insurgents also exploded a water pipeline in the capital, and Mayor Alaa al-Timimi said the city of 5 million people would suffer a 24-hour water shortage.

Nearly 60 insurgents have been killed and 100 captured so far in the offensives, which are aimed at destroying militant networks near the Syrian border and north of Baghdad, the military said. Three Americans have been wounded.

The Marine who was killed Saturday by small-arms fire during Operation Spear had been assigned to Regimental Combat Team 2 of the 2nd Marine Division. At least 1,720 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Troops participating in Operation Spear _ in its third day in the Anbar province town of Karabilah _ fired Hellfire missiles overnight at two homes where insurgents holed up after shooting mortars at coalition forces, said Lt. Col. Tim Mundy, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment. The military said they believed four or five militants may have been killed in the counterattack.

A battle tank killed a suspected suicide truck bomber, Marine Capt. Jeffrey Pool said from Ramadi, the provincial capital. The vehicle exploded, and the tank crew observed secondary blasts from explosives rigged to it.

U.S. and Iraqi forces have been shouting through loudspeakers to residents of the western town to leave their homes with white flags and head to a safer area. But most homes already are empty, said Marine Capt. Christopher Goland of Lima Company, a unit of the 3rd Battalion.

Dozens of buildings in Karabilah, 200 miles west of Baghdad, were destroyed after airstrikes and tank shelling, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

Intelligence officials believe Anbar province is a portal used by extremist groups, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group, to smuggle in foreign fighters. Syria is under intense pressure from Washington and Baghdad to tighten control of its porous 380-mile border with Iraq.

The majority of the region's residents are Sunni Arabs, who are believed to make up the core of an insurgency that has killed at least 1,131 people since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's Shiite-led government was announced April 28.

On Saturday, troops searching the town found four Iraqi hostages beaten, handcuffed and chained to a wall in a torture center, the military said. Some of the men were believed to be Iraqi border guards who had been held for three weeks.

Troops searching the bunker found nooses, electrical wire and a bathtub filled with water for electric shocks and mock drownings.

In the basement, troops found automatic rifles, ammunition, terrorist training manuals and DVDs showing insurgents beheading captives, Pool said.

U.S. and Iraqi forces also found a bomb-making factory with blasting caps, cell phones and other materials. They uncovered sniper rifles, ammunition and a mortar system. A nearby schoolhouse believed to be used for training terrorists had instructions for making roadside bombs written on a chalkboard.

The second offensive, Operation Dagger, was launched Saturday, targeting the marshy shores of a lake north of Baghdad. Dagger seeks to eliminate insurgent training camps and weapons caches in the Lake Tharthar area, 50 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Both operations come on the heels of two other major offensives in the same areas that killed about 125 militants earlier this month and in March. Iraqi troops did not participate in earlier offensives in the area.

In other violence, a suicide car bomber killed two Iraqi soldiers and two civilian employees as construction workers were fixing the gate at a security checkpoint in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown 80 miles north of Baghdad, Army Capt. Muhanad Ahmed said. Eight soldiers and four civilians were wounded in the attack.

A bomb in a car parked near the Shiite al-Nawab mosque also exploded in the northern Baghdad suburb of Kazimiyah, killing one civilian and wounding 27 people, police Maj. Falah al-Muhammadawi said.

Gunmen killed two Iraqi policemen in western Baghdad as they headed to work, while a second band of gunmen killed an electrical engineer going to work at an oil refinery in the capital.

In the northern city of Mosul, two mortar rounds missed the governor's building and landed at a butcher's market, killing a 12-year-old boy and wounding 14 people, hospital officials said.

Also Sunday:

_Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as "Chemical Ali," was one of eight former regime officials to be shown on a tape released by the Iraqi Special tribunal. The suspects were testifying before an investigating magistrate and signing statements. It was the third such tape released by the tribunal this month.

_The Iraqi government announced it had arrested a suspected member of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq, a man it claimed was responsible for building car bombs and carrying out more than 60 bombings around the capital. Musaab Kasser Abdul Rahman Hassan, known as Abu Younis, was arrested on May 26 during an operation in Baghdad, the government said in a statement.

_The U.S. military said American and Iraqi soldiers had captured six suspected insurgents in raids the day before around central and southern Baghdad _ including someone it described as "a specifically identified terror cell financier."

This image taken from video released by the Iraqi Special Tribunal Sunday June 19, 2005 shows former Iraqi vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan. The IST did not say when or where the tape was made. The former vice-president is under investigation over two alleged crimes of abusing religious parties and killing, arresting and relegating members of Kurd Ufaileein. It was the third such tape released by the tribunal this month. On June 15, the tribunal released a video showing the questioning of three former senior officials _ including Saddam's half brother Sabawi Ibrahim. Saddam himself had appeared on an earlier tape. No trial dates have been set for Saddam or any of the other former regime officials being held in custody. (AP Photo/Iraqi Special Tribunal)

'Chemical Ali' among latest Saddam aides questioned

By Luke Baker

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein's feared cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali," has appeared before Iraq's special tribunal as it steps up the process of questioning former regime loyalists over war crimes.

Majid was one of eight aides to the former president to be questioned by investigators this week, officials said on Sunday, raising to at least 12 the number interrogated in the past 10 days. Majid last appeared before a judge in December.

The new Iraqi government, facing fresh elections by the year's end, is keen to put Saddam and others on trial soon. But officials with the independent Tribunal, set up 18 months ago, say the process cannot be rushed and no trial date has been set.

Majid, who acquired his nickname after Iraqi forces dropped poison gas on Kurdish villagers in 1988, was questioned on Thursday about the suppression of religious political parties and the killing and detention of Fayli Kurds, a Shi'ite Muslim minority among the mostly Sunni Kurds.

Also questioned on the same accusations were Taha Yassin Ramadan, Saddam's former vice-president, and Saadoun Shaker, interior minister early in Saddam's rule, who was also asked about the killing of Shi'ite villagers from Dujail in 1982.

The killings in Dujail -- more than 140 villagers were killed after a failed assassination attempt on Saddam as his motorcade passed -- may be key to an early trial of Saddam, who was questioned about the incident himself a week ago.

Though minor compared to the genocide and crimes against humanity with which the former president may be charged, government officials say it may be easier to prove Saddam's personal responsibility for ordering the alleged retribution.

"Dujail is a discrete case and not as factually complex as some of the others," a source close to the Tribunal said on Sunday, explaining that made it easier to investigate.

Five Saddam lieutenants -- including Ramadan and Saddam's half-brother Barzan -- have already been questioned in connection with Dujail, along with three other Baathists.

Sources close to the Tribunal said that the investigative stage of the Dujail case could be completed within a month or so, at which point evidence would be presented to a trial judge who would decide whether the case goes ahead.

According to tribunal rules, there must be at least 45 days between the referral of a case to trial and the trial itself, but in theory if Saddam ended up being charged in the Dujail case, he could be tried before the end of the year.

RELIGIOUS OPPRESSION

Senior Iraqi officials have in recent weeks expressed their hope that Saddam will come to trial within the next couple of months, but the Tribunal has been adamant in saying justice must not be rushed.

At the same time, over the past two weeks the Tribunal has questioned around a dozen suspects and released muted video of several of them, including Saddam, being questioned, clearly keen to show it is pushing ahead with the judicial process.

Also interrogated this week with Majid was Abid Hamid Mahmud, Saddam's secretary, who ranked fourth in a U.S. list of the 55 most wanted figures after the fall of the old regime.

Mahmud was also questioned about the suppression of religious parties -- a reference to parties representing the Shi'ite majority which were forced underground by the 1980s.

Two other, less-well-known defendants were questioned on the "events of 1991," in reference to the suppression of Shi'ite and Kurdish uprisings after the Gulf War.

A further two were questioned about oppressing political parties, one with reference to religious parties, the other secular parties. Saddam's Sunni Arab-dominated Baath party eliminated all opposition including the Shi'ite Dawa Party and the Iraqi Communist Party. Many of their leaders were killed.

(Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald)

A photo handed out by the U.S. Marines shows an Iraqi man with welts and lacerations across his back and arms from being tortured with electricity while being held captive, June 18, 2005. This man and three others were rescued by Iraqi Security Forces and Marines from 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment who discovered an insurgent torture chamber in the city of Karabilah, Iraq during Operation Romhe, and anti-insurgency operation in Western Iraq. EDITORIAL USE ONLY Picture taken June 18, 2005. REUTERS/HO/USMC Cpl Neill A. Sevelius

Iraq Restaurant Blast Kills 23, Hurts 36

By FRANK GRIFFITHS Associated Press Writer

June 19, 2005, 2:10 PM EDT

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A suicide bombing ripped through a popular Baghdad kebab restaurant at lunchtime, killing at least 23 people and wounding 36 Sunday as insurgents stepped up attacks nationwide, defying two major U.S.-led offensives aimed at routing foreign fighters.

Blood, shoes and debris cover the floor of an Iraqi restaurant Baghdad. At least 23 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a busy kebab restaurant near Baghdad's Green Zone, one of a string of attacks across the country that claimed a total of 43 lives.(AFP/Karim Sahib

The U.S. military also announced that a Marine died Saturday during Operation Spear -- the first American death reported in the twin offensives.

A US soldier secures the scene where a car bomb exploded in Baghdad. At least 23 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a busy kebab restaurant near Baghdad's Green Zone, one of a string of attacks across the country that claimed a total of 43 lives.(AFP/Ahmad al-Rubaye)

The bomber detonated a vest laden with explosives at about 2:45 p.m. in the Ibn Zanbour restaurant, just 400 yards from the main gate of the heavily fortified Green Zone and is especially popular with Iraqi police and soldiers.

Iraqi police inspect the site of a bombing at a Baghdad cafe frequented by the police June 19, 2005. A suicide bomber blew himself up in the busy cafe at lunchtime killing 12 people, including 4 policemen and leaving 27 injured, including 9 policemen. REUTERS/Ali Jasim

The explosion killed seven police officers, while the injured included 16 police officers and the bodyguards of Iraqi Finance minister Ali Abdel-Amir Allawi, police Lt. Col. Talal Jumaa said. The minister was not in the restaurant.

An Iraqi soldier gestures to civilians as they stand among the wreckage of an Iraqi restaurant Baghdad.(AFP/Karim Sahib)

Iraq's most feared terror group claimed responsibility for the attack but said it was targeting a different restaurant.

Elsewhere, militants staged attacks that killed at least 12 people, despite two joint U.S.-Iraqi offensives -- operations Spear and Dagger -- that began earlier this week with about 1,000 U.S. forces and Iraqi soldiers each.

Insurgents also exploded a water pipeline in the capital, and Mayor Alaa al-Timimi said the city of 5 million people would suffer a 24-hour water shortage.

Nearly 60 insurgents have been killed and 100 captured so far in the offensives, which are aimed at destroying militant networks near the Syrian border and north of Baghdad, the military said. Three Americans have been wounded.

The Marine who was killed Saturday by small-arms fire during Operation Spear had been assigned to Regimental Combat Team 2 of the 2nd Marine Division. At least 1,720 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Troops participating in Operation Spear -- in its third day in the Anbar province town of Karabilah -- fired Hellfire missiles overnight at two homes where insurgents holed up after shooting mortars at coalition forces, said Lt. Col. Tim Mundy, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment. The military said they believed four or five militants may have been killed in the counterattack.

A destroyed house is seen in Karabilah, 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, June 19, 2005. About 1,000 U.S. Marines are participating in Operation Spear near the Iraqi-Syrian border, destroying dozens of homes. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)

A battle tank killed a suspected suicide truck bomber, Marine Capt. Jeffrey Pool said from Ramadi, the provincial capital. The vehicle exploded, and the tank crew observed secondary blasts from explosives rigged to it.

U.S. and Iraqi forces have been shouting through loudspeakers to residents of the western town to leave their homes with white flags and head to a safer area. But most homes already are empty, said Marine Capt. Christopher Goland of Lima Company, a unit of the 3rd Battalion.

Dozens of buildings in Karabilah, 200 miles west of Baghdad, were destroyed after airstrikes and tank shelling, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

Intelligence officials believe Anbar province is a portal used by extremist groups, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group, to smuggle in foreign fighters. Syria is under intense pressure from Washington and Baghdad to tighten control of its porous 380-mile border with Iraq.

The majority of the region's residents are Sunni Arabs, who are believed to make up the core of an insurgency that has killed at least 1,131 people since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's Shiite-led government was announced April 28.

On Saturday, troops searching the town found four Iraqi hostages beaten, handcuffed and chained to a wall in a torture center, the military said. Some of the men were believed to be Iraqi border guards who had been held for three weeks.

A U.S. Marine runs through the front gate of a house as the dust settles from explosives used to blow the lock open in Karabilah, 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, June 19, 2005. About 1,000 U.S. Marines are participating in Operation Spear near Iraqi-Syrian border town. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)

Troops searching the bunker found nooses, electrical wire and a bathtub filled with water for electric shocks and mock drownings.

In the basement, troops found automatic rifles, ammunition, terrorist training manuals and DVDs showing insurgents beheading captives, Pool said. U.S. and Iraqi forces also found a bomb-making factory with blasting caps, cell phones and other materials. They uncovered sniper rifles, ammunition and a mortar system. A nearby schoolhouse believed to be used for training terrorists had instructions for making roadside bombs written on a chalkboard.

The second offensive, Operation Dagger, was launched Saturday, targeting suspected insurgent training camps and weapons caches on the marshy shores of Lake Tharthar, 50 miles northwest of Baghdad.

Both operations come on the heels of two other major offensives in the same areas that killed about 125 militants earlier this month and in March. Iraqi troops did not participate in earlier offensives in the area.

Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for the Baghdad restaurant bombing and said the attacker was from Qaim, a town near the Syrian border and the area targeted by Operation Spear.

The group claimed the man blew himself up in a restaurant located next door to the one that was actually attacked.

"The restaurant is only frequented by the officers, police, spies and collaborators in the Green Zone. It was their lunch time," the group said in a statement on an Islamic Web site. The statement's authenticity couldn't be verified.

In other violence, a suicide car bomber killed two Iraqi soldiers and two civilian employees as construction workers were fixing the gate at a security checkpoint in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown 80 miles north of Baghdad, Army Capt. Muhanad Ahmed said. Eight soldiers and four civilians were wounded.

A suicide car bomber targeting an Iraqi police patrol in northern Baghdad also killed three civilians and wounded 30 people, including two Iraqi police officers, said U.S. Sgt. 1st Class David Abrams, a spokesman for Task Force Baghdad.

A bomb in a car parked near the Shiite al-Nawab mosque also exploded in the northern Baghdad suburb of Kazimiyah, killing one civilian and wounding 27 people, police Maj. Falah al-Muhammadawi said.

Gunmen killed two Iraqi policemen in western Baghdad as they headed to work, while a second band of gunmen killed an electrical engineer going to work at an oil refinery in the capital.

In the northern city of Mosul, two mortar rounds missed the governor's building and landed at a butcher's market, killing a 12-year-old boy and wounding 14 people, hospital officials said.

Also Sunday:

* Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as "Chemical Ali," was one of eight former regime officials to be shown testifying and signing statements on a tape released by the Iraqi Special tribunal.

* The Iraqi government announced the arrest of a suspected member of al-Qaida in Iraq who it said was responsible for building car bombs and carrying out more than 60 bombings around the capital. Musaab Kasser Abdul Rahman Hassan, known as Abu Younis, was arrested on May 26 in Baghdad, according to a statement.

* The U.S. military said American and Iraqi soldiers had captured six suspected insurgents in raids the day before around central and southern Baghdad -- including someone it described as "a specifically identified terror cell financier."

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