Car Bomb in Khalis kills 13;
3 Marines Die in al-Anbar
On Tuesday, Australian Broadcasting says that guerrillas drove a car bomb into the midst of a funeral in Khalis, 80 km. north of Baghdad, and detonated it. They killed at least 13 persons and wounded 35. It says the funeral was for the brother of the mayor of Khalis, who had been assassinated two days earlier.
In Iskandariyah, al-Zaman says, the police station came under attack. The city lies south of Baghdad. Gunmen jumped out of a private car and sprayed the station with machine gun fire. Police returned fire, killing two attackers before the rest fled. One policeman was wounded.
In Wasit province US and Ukrainian troops foiled a planned attack on them.
AFP reports,, ‘ “Two marines assigned to First Marine Expeditionary Force were killed in and one marine died of wounds received in action Monday in the (centre-west) Al-Anbar province while conducting security and stability operations,” the military said in a statement. The marines have now lost 10 men in just over one week on various operations around Al-Anbar province . . . ‘
Al-Hayat reports that Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced on Tuesday the institution of special curfew and other emergency laws aimed at curbing the country’s endemic violence. Although Allawi insisted that the law would not detract from civil liberties, it is hard to see how it could fail to curb freedom of association (curfews are like that), and the threat of censorship now looms.
The same newspaper reported that Izz al-Din al-Majid al-Tikriti, the uncle of Saddam Hussein, has threatened to announce an Iraqi government in exile if the security situation in the country does not improve.