52 Dead Dozens Wounded Guerrilla

52 Dead, Dozens Wounded

Guerrilla violence, including a massive car bomb, killed 52 Iraqis on Saturday. The biggest incident occurred at a market at Nahrawan, a town just east of Baghdad that is largely Shiite, where a car bomber killed 30 persons and wounded another 38. Another bombing took place at Baqubah, killing at least one and wounding 17. Another batch of bodies was found, probably killed by the guerrillas for being Shiite.

Al-Hayat [This means I am paraphrasing an Arabic article in the London daily, “al-Hayat”]: The intelligence chief at the ministry of the interior, Husain Ali Kamal, said Saturday that the recent announcement of a “war” by alleged Salafi leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was in part also an announcement of strategy by the remnants of the Baath. “The supporters of the former regime have clothed themselves in white turbans and allied with Zarqawi, depite the intellectual and political disagreements between the two.”