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An elderly Iraqi woman is helped across water and debris next to a heavily damaged mosque in Hillah, Iraq, Thursday Oct. 6 2005. On Wednesday, a bomb exploded at the entrance of a Shiite mosque in Hillah, a city south of Baghdad, killing at least 25 and wounding 93, as hundreds of worshippers gathered there for prayers at the start of the Islamic month of Ramadan and for the funeral of a man killed two days ago in a bomb blast at his restaurant.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Insurgents using suicide and roadside bombs killed at least 13 people, including a U.S. soldier, and wounded 19 on Thursday in the latest of a series of attacks aimed at wrecking Iraq's constitutional referendum next week.
The attacks came as Iraqis began picking up copies of the draft constitution that they will vote on Oct. 15 after the country's Shiite-led parliament ended a bitter dispute with Sunni Arabs about how the referendum will be conducted.
Under U.S. and U.N. pressure, parliament Wednesday reversed its last-minute electoral law changes, which would have ensured passage of the new constitution but which the United Nations called unfair.
Sunni Arab leaders who had threatened a boycott because of the changes said they were satisfied with Wednesday's reversal and are now mobilizing to defeat the charter at the polls. But some warned they could still call a boycott to protest major U.S. offensives launched in the past week in western Iraq, the Sunni heartland.
Thursday's two deadliest attacks in Baghdad involved suicide car bombers.
One hit a police patrol near the Oil Ministry, killing nine Iraqis and wounding nine, police said. The attack occurred in eastern Baghdad, about 400 yards from the ministry, police Capt. Nabil Abdul Qadir said. The dead included five policemen and four civilians, and the wounded four policemen and five civilians, he said.
Earlier, in Karrada, another part of eastern Baghdad, a suicide car bomb exploded near a convoy of private security contractors, killing three bystanders and wounding six others, police Maj. Mohammed Yunis said. One of the four white sport utility vehicles in the convoy was damaged, but none of the foreigners in them was hurt.
In northern Baghdad, a roadside bomb hit a U.S. Army patrol in northern Baghdad, killing one soldier, said military spokesman Sgt. 1st Class David Abrams.
Kubba says some Iraqis are familiar with the draft proposal, but many still have not been able to see copies of the document, with the vote approaching.
That attack raised to 1,945 the number of U.S. military members who have died since the war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Four other U.S. soldiers were slightly wounded when a car bomb hit their patrol in central Baghdad, setting off fighting with small-arms fire and U.S. helicopters, Abrams said.
At least 283 people have been killed by insurgents in Iraq in the past 11 days.
That includes Wednesday's bombing of a Shiite mosque in Hillah, a city south of Baghdad, killing at least 25 and wounding 93, as hundreds of worshippers gathered for prayers at the start of the Islamic month of Ramadan and for the funeral of a man killed two days ago in a blast at his restaurant.
The insurgent attacks - often targeting Shiite Muslims - are aimed at wrecking the referendum. Al-Qaida in Iraq, which has declared "all-out war" on Shiites, has called for stepped-up violence during Ramadan.
Elsewhere, insurgents bombed a pipeline near the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, sending plumes of black smoke and fire up into the air. The pipeline connects oil fields with Kirkuk's refineries, said police Capt. Farhad Talabani. Iraq's Northern Oil Co. would soon repair the damage, as it has after many other attacks, he said.
Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops also were waging two major offensives in western Iraq, the Sunni heartland, in an attempt to put down Al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents ahead of the vote.
At least 42 insurgents have been killed in the "Iron Fist" offensive, which began Saturday near the Syrian border, and six in the "River Gate" offensive, which started further east Tuesday, the U.S. military said. Scores of suspected insurgents have been detained, and at least four American servicemen have died in the two offensives, the military said.
An 43-year-old detainee also died Wednesday of an apparent heart attack at U.S. Camp Bucca, the military said. About 12,300 Iraqi and foreign detainees are being held there and at other U.S. detention centers in Iraq, such as the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.
In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said new explosive devices used against coalition forces in Iraq "lead us either to Iranian elements or to Hezbollah."
While stressing that Britain "cannot be sure" about Iran's possible role, he linked the issue to the diplomatic confrontation over Iran's nuclear program.
"There is no justification for Iran or any other country interfering in Iraq," Blair said at a news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
On Wednesday, Press Association reported that a senior government official said Britain believed Iran's Revolutionary Guard supplied explosives technology to insurgents in Iraq that was used to kill eight British soldiers over the summer.
Iran "categorically denied the strange accusation," the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Thursday.
In Beirut, a Hezbollah spokesman declined to comment immediately on Blair's remarks.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards are believed to have provided training, equipment and money to Hezbollah, treating it almost like an arm of the Guard. In Lebanon, Hezbollah focuses on fighting against Israel, but the group also more broadly shares the Revolutionary Guard's anti-U.S. rhetoric and goal of promoting Islamic theocracy.
Tehran is estimated to provide Hezbollah with $10 million-$20 million monthly.
On Sunday, the Shiite-led parliament issued a new interpretation of the rules for the constitutional referendum, saying two-thirds of registered voters had to vote "no" - not two-thirds of those casting ballots. That raised the bar for rejection, and outraged Sunnis threatened a boycott.
The United Nations called the change unfair, and U.N. and U.S. officials pressed the government to reinstate the original rules. Parliament did so Wednesday.
Iraq's Shiite majority and the Kurdish minority overwhelmingly support the constitution. Sunni Arabs make up only 20 percent of the population but can still defeat it if they get a two-thirds "no" vote in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces. There are four provinces where they have a chance of doing so.
Many Sunnis fear the constitution would divide the country into three districts: a Kurdish one in the north and a Shiite one in the south that both control Iraq's oil wealth, and a poor majority Sunni one in central and western areas.
Wednesday's parliament vote restored the possibility that Sunnis will manage to veto the constitution, which would prolong Iraq's political instability. The United States in particular is eager to see the passage of the charter, seen as key to beginning the withdrawal of some U.S. forces.
Saleh al-Mutlaq, a top Sunni politician, said the boycott threat over the election law was lifted. But he warned that one might still be called if the U.S. offensives do not end soon, saying the turmoil will suppress Sunni voting.
(c) 2005 The Associated Press
The attacks came as Iraqis began picking up copies of the draft constitution that they will vote on Oct. 15 after the country's Shiite-led parliament ended a bitter dispute with Sunni Arabs about how the referendum will be conducted.
Under U.S. and U.N. pressure, parliament Wednesday reversed its last-minute electoral law changes, which would have ensured passage of the new constitution but which the United Nations called unfair.
Sunni Arab leaders who had threatened a boycott because of the changes said they were satisfied with Wednesday's reversal and are now mobilizing to defeat the charter at the polls. But some warned they could still call a boycott to protest major U.S. offensives launched in the past week in western Iraq, the Sunni heartland.
Thursday's two deadliest attacks in Baghdad involved suicide car bombers.
One hit a police patrol near the Oil Ministry, killing nine Iraqis and wounding nine, police said. The attack occurred in eastern Baghdad, about 400 yards from the ministry, police Capt. Nabil Abdul Qadir said. The dead included five policemen and four civilians, and the wounded four policemen and five civilians, he said.
Earlier, in Karrada, another part of eastern Baghdad, a suicide car bomb exploded near a convoy of private security contractors, killing three bystanders and wounding six others, police Maj. Mohammed Yunis said. One of the four white sport utility vehicles in the convoy was damaged, but none of the foreigners in them was hurt.
In northern Baghdad, a roadside bomb hit a U.S. Army patrol in northern Baghdad, killing one soldier, said military spokesman Sgt. 1st Class David Abrams.
Kubba says some Iraqis are familiar with the draft proposal, but many still have not been able to see copies of the document, with the vote approaching.
That attack raised to 1,945 the number of U.S. military members who have died since the war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Four other U.S. soldiers were slightly wounded when a car bomb hit their patrol in central Baghdad, setting off fighting with small-arms fire and U.S. helicopters, Abrams said.
At least 283 people have been killed by insurgents in Iraq in the past 11 days.
That includes Wednesday's bombing of a Shiite mosque in Hillah, a city south of Baghdad, killing at least 25 and wounding 93, as hundreds of worshippers gathered for prayers at the start of the Islamic month of Ramadan and for the funeral of a man killed two days ago in a blast at his restaurant.
The insurgent attacks - often targeting Shiite Muslims - are aimed at wrecking the referendum. Al-Qaida in Iraq, which has declared "all-out war" on Shiites, has called for stepped-up violence during Ramadan.
Elsewhere, insurgents bombed a pipeline near the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, sending plumes of black smoke and fire up into the air. The pipeline connects oil fields with Kirkuk's refineries, said police Capt. Farhad Talabani. Iraq's Northern Oil Co. would soon repair the damage, as it has after many other attacks, he said.
Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops also were waging two major offensives in western Iraq, the Sunni heartland, in an attempt to put down Al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents ahead of the vote.
At least 42 insurgents have been killed in the "Iron Fist" offensive, which began Saturday near the Syrian border, and six in the "River Gate" offensive, which started further east Tuesday, the U.S. military said. Scores of suspected insurgents have been detained, and at least four American servicemen have died in the two offensives, the military said.
An 43-year-old detainee also died Wednesday of an apparent heart attack at U.S. Camp Bucca, the military said. About 12,300 Iraqi and foreign detainees are being held there and at other U.S. detention centers in Iraq, such as the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.
In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said new explosive devices used against coalition forces in Iraq "lead us either to Iranian elements or to Hezbollah."
While stressing that Britain "cannot be sure" about Iran's possible role, he linked the issue to the diplomatic confrontation over Iran's nuclear program.
"There is no justification for Iran or any other country interfering in Iraq," Blair said at a news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.
On Wednesday, Press Association reported that a senior government official said Britain believed Iran's Revolutionary Guard supplied explosives technology to insurgents in Iraq that was used to kill eight British soldiers over the summer.
Iran "categorically denied the strange accusation," the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Thursday.
In Beirut, a Hezbollah spokesman declined to comment immediately on Blair's remarks.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards are believed to have provided training, equipment and money to Hezbollah, treating it almost like an arm of the Guard. In Lebanon, Hezbollah focuses on fighting against Israel, but the group also more broadly shares the Revolutionary Guard's anti-U.S. rhetoric and goal of promoting Islamic theocracy.
Tehran is estimated to provide Hezbollah with $10 million-$20 million monthly.
On Sunday, the Shiite-led parliament issued a new interpretation of the rules for the constitutional referendum, saying two-thirds of registered voters had to vote "no" - not two-thirds of those casting ballots. That raised the bar for rejection, and outraged Sunnis threatened a boycott.
The United Nations called the change unfair, and U.N. and U.S. officials pressed the government to reinstate the original rules. Parliament did so Wednesday.
Iraq's Shiite majority and the Kurdish minority overwhelmingly support the constitution. Sunni Arabs make up only 20 percent of the population but can still defeat it if they get a two-thirds "no" vote in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces. There are four provinces where they have a chance of doing so.
Many Sunnis fear the constitution would divide the country into three districts: a Kurdish one in the north and a Shiite one in the south that both control Iraq's oil wealth, and a poor majority Sunni one in central and western areas.
Wednesday's parliament vote restored the possibility that Sunnis will manage to veto the constitution, which would prolong Iraq's political instability. The United States in particular is eager to see the passage of the charter, seen as key to beginning the withdrawal of some U.S. forces.
Saleh al-Mutlaq, a top Sunni politician, said the boycott threat over the election law was lifted. But he warned that one might still be called if the U.S. offensives do not end soon, saying the turmoil will suppress Sunni voting.
(c) 2005 The Associated Press
