Roundup: Al-Qaida in Iraq says militant leader Zarqawi wounded

Al-Qaida's wing in Iraq said Tuesday that its leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been wounded and urged Muslims to pray for him, according to an Islamic website.

"O nation of Islam... Pray for the healing of our Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi from an injury he suffered in the path of God," said a statement which was posted on the website that often carries messages from Zarqawi's group, the al-Qaida Organization for Holy War in Iraq.

"You are the most beloved of the mujahedeen (Islamic fighters), may God help you and give you strength," the statement said.

"The injury of our leader is an honor and gives us incentive to close in on the enemies of God and step up attacks on them," it added.

However, the statement did not specify how or where Zarqawi was wounded and its authenticity could not be immediately verified.

The announcement came after unconfirmed media reports said that the Jordanian-born al-Qaida leader visited a hospital for medical treatment in Ramadi, 110 km west of Baghdad earlier this month.

Zarqawi is the most wanted man in Iraq with a bounty of 25 million US dollars put on his head by Washington. He and his group have claimed responsibility for many devastating attacks and kidnappings in the two years of insurgency in Iraq.

NEW WAVE OF ATTACKS

The report of Zarqawi's injury came amid a surge of insurgent attacks since a new Iraqi government was inaugurated at the end of April.

Nearly 50 Iraqis were killed Monday, bringing the number of people killed by militants to about 600, including around 50 US soldiers, in an escalation of attacks following the installation of the new Iraqi government.

Two car bombs went off on Monday outside a residence in the town of Tal Afar, some 80 km west of Mosul, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens more, witnesses said.

Police sources said the twin blasts appeared to have targeted Hasan Baktash, a Shiite sheikh with ties to the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

In the ethnically-mixed town of Mahmudiyah, some 30 km south of Baghdad, 10 people were killed and over 30 others injured when a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside a mosque.

In capital Baghdad, a car bomb exploded at lunchtime in the car park of a crowded restaurant in a Shiite district, killing eight people and wounding dozens more.

According to the US military, seven US soldiers were killed and three others wounded in bomb attacks in Iraq in 24 hours from Monday to Tuesday.

A car bomb exploded at about 1:30 p.m. (0930 GMT) Tuesday next to a military patrol in central Baghdad, killing three US soldiers from the US Third Infantry Division, the US military said.

In a separate incident, four US soldiers were killed on Monday when a homemade bomb exploded at the US troops in Haswa area, some 50 km south of Baghdad, the US military said in another statement.

Elsewhere, an improvised explosive device detonated late on Monday in Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, destroying a US Bradley fighting vehicle and wounding three US soldiers, the military said.

ASSASSINATION TERROR

Insurgents have also launched attacks targeting people who they say were working for the US forces. There have been at least 20 assassinations of Iraqis holding key government, political or religious posts since the new government was announced April 28.

A female Iraqi Shiite legislator escaped an assassination attempt when gunmen opened fire at her convoy south of Baghdad, but four of her bodyguards were killed, officials said on Tuesday.

Gunmen attacked the convoy of Salama al-Khafaji, as she was going from Baghdad to the holy Shiite city of Najaf, some 160 km south of the capital, Khafaji's spokesman told reporters.

She was among several Iraqi Shiite politicians traveling to Najaf to meet the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who has sought to defuse tensions between Sunni Arabs and Shiites after a series of sectarian killings.

On Monday morning, Wael al-Rubaei, an advisor to Iraq's council of ministers, was gunned down by unknown assailants in Mansour district, western Baghdad at about 8:15 a.m. (0415 GMT), when he was on his way to office. His driver was also killed in the attack.

According to the reports of the Associated Press (AP), on Tuesday a video posted on the Internet shows three Arab truck drivers being shot to death, apparently for transferring goods to US troops.

One victim was a Jordanian man shown apologizing for helping the US military and advising others to stop cooperating with US troops.

Two Iraqi drivers, reportedly seized outside the al-Asad base west of Baghdad, are shown making similar statements before all the three were shot dead by a masked man.

Iraqi militant group Ansar al-Sunnah Army took responsibility for the executions in a statement. The authenticity of the videos and an accompanying statement could not be verified.

US-IRAQI JOINT OFFENSIVE

In face of rampant insurgent attacks, the US and Iraq security forces launched a joint operation dubbed "Operation Squeeze Play," which is so far the largest joint offensive against suspected insurgents in Abu Ghraib area near Baghdad, and about 300 Iraqis were detained overnight in the action, the US military said on Monday.

The new offensive involved seven Iraqi battalions backed by US forces and targeted militants suspected of launching attacks on the US-run detention facility in Abu Ghraib area, some 20 km west of Baghdad, and the main road leading to Baghdad international airport, he said.

"The Iraqi Security Forces have the lead in this operation while we perform shaping and supporting roles," the spokesman said.

Source: Xinhua