Violence unrelenting in Iraq as Spain pulls out some diplomatic staff
25 minutes ago Add World - AFP to My Yahoo!
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Two more US soldiers and three Iraqi civilians were killed in fresh violence in Iraq (news - web sites), while US ally Spain announced it was pulling out some of its diplomats and experts from the war-torn country.
AFP Photo
:
A US soldier was killed and another wounded when an improvised explosive device blew up in Baghdad Tuesday morning, a military spokeswoman said.
A similar attack Monday in the northern town of Tikrit, the hometown of ousted strongman Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), killed one American soldier and injured another, the US-led coalition said Tuesday.
The deaths pushed the US death toll to 141 since May 1, when Washington declared major hostilities had ended. During the main US offensive in the six weeks before that, hostile fire claimed 114 US lives.
In Kirkuk, further north, a judge was shot dead late Monday by US forces who intended to ambush anti-coalition forces, according to the judge's cousin, who was driving the car and suffered bullet wounds.
The growing violence in Iraq prompted Spain to announce it was recalling experts and some diplomatic staff from Baghdad for talks on the situation there.
But Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who was one of the main backers of the US-led invasion of Iraq in March and has since sent 1,250 soldiers here, insisted it was not an evacuation or a withdrawal.
Aznar and Foreign Minister Ana Palacio both said the staff would return.
"We want to assess the situation together with them. You cannot talk of an evacuation or a withdrawal. We want an exchange of views," Aznar told a press conference in Berlin after talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Aznar said those involved had asked for the "consultations" and afterwards, they would make the "appropriate decision" on how to proceed.
Palacio told Spanish media earlier from Berlin that charge d'affaires Eduardo de Quesada was the only Spanish diplomat who would remain in the country's mission in Baghdad for the moment.
A Spanish intelligence agent was shot dead in Baghdad in August, while another national was killed in the suicide bombing of UN headquarters in the capital in October.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) said Moscow is not considering sending troops to help the US-led occupying forces in oil-rich Iraq because the conditions are not right.
"From the start we opposed military intervention (in Iraq). It would be incoherent and stupid today to say we were prepared to send troops," Putin said in an interview published Tuesday in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Iraq has suffered a surge in violence, with many attacks occurring in Baghdad and an area of western and northern Iraq where Saddam draws much support and opposition to the US-led occupying forces runs high.
But tension has also soared in Karbala, which was the scene of fierce armed clashes between Shiite groups in mid-October.
Two Iraqis died there late Monday when a bomb exploded near the Baratha hotel behind Al-Mukhayam mosque, according to witness Ibrahim al-Juburi.
In mid-October supporters of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani clashed with backers of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr, preventing the latter from taking control of the city's Hussein and Abbas mausoleums. At least one person was killed.
Sadr has been vocal in denouncing the US-led occupation but in a surprising announcement this week, he urged US troops in the oil-rich country to unite with the Iraqi people to avoid more bloodshed.
Meanwhile, US troops were still searching Tuesday for pieces of wreckage of a military helicopter that was shot down two days earlier, killing 16 soldiers, near the flashpoint town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad.
Eight Humvees were at the scene and two helicopters hovered overhead. "The cleaning up is still going on," a US soldier said.
A convoy of about 10 vehicles, including trucks and bulldozers, arrived Tuesday morning to remove debris.
The Chinook helicopter was shot down by a missile Sunday, killing 16 US soldiers and wounding 20 others in the worst single attack on US forces in Iraq since they entered the country in March.
But US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) vowed Monday that the anti-US attacks would never succeed in making the United States run from Iraq as US Congress approved his request for 87.5 billion dollars to stabilize and rebuild both Iraq and Afghanistan (news - web sites).
"The enemy in Iraq believes America will run. That's why they're willing to kill innocent civilians, relief workers, coalition troops. America will never run," Bush said during a speech in Alabama.
He said the fresh resources and the money pledged by international donors in Madrid in late October "will provide essential support to make Iraq more secure and to help the Iraqi people transition to self-government."
The congressional bill gave Bush virtually everything he asked for when he made the funding request in early September. Efforts to make part of the US aid to Iraq a loan failed.
About 64.7 billion dollars of the total funds has been earmarked to pay for US military operations, while another 21.2 billion dollars is for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Iraq and Afghanistan. |
