Home > Mosul Governor Assassinated in Iraq
By John Daniszewski
BAGHDAD - The gunning down today of the governor of Mosul province and the first major car bombing in Baghdad in the two weeks since Iraq’s interim government took authority gave fresh evidence of rebels’ intentions to carry on their opposition to the interim Iraqi government.
After the car bombing this morning that claimed at least 10 lives, some ordinary Iraqis expressed disappointment at the end of a period of relative calm in the Iraqi capital since the handover of power to Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s government. Others said that in spite of the attack they still felt more confident with an Iraqi government in power.
Usama Kashoula, governor of Mosul province since February, was ambushed while in a convoy driving through the city of Bayji, an oil refining center north of Tikrit long known for strong Baathist sympathies.
Kashoula, known for reaching across ethnic and sectarian divides in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, was praised as a "courageous, committed and determined governor" by U.S. Lt. Gov. David Petraeus.
Although initial reports about the attack were sketchy, one U.S. source said it was reported that two of the attackers were killed, a third was captured, and another assailant, who was wounded, was under guard at Bayji Hospital.
In Baghdad, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi spent two hours at the scene of a morning car bombing just outside the Baghdad Convention Center in the heavily fortified Green Zone that serves as the headquarters for the Iraqi government, the U.S. Embassy and multinational commanders.
The death toll rose to at least 10, including three Iraqi national guardsmen, with some 40 people injured, hospital officials said.
Allawi said the attackers were carrying out "naked aggression against the Iraqi people" and vowed that his tough security policies would "bring these criminals to justice."
But some analysts feared that the attack was a signal that opponents of the United States and its Iraqi allies have decided after a brief pause for the handover to go on the offensive again.
"They didn’t target us. They didn’t target the interim government. They targeted ordinary Iraqi people just trying to get to work," said U.S. Army Col. Mike Murray, commander of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry.
Because July 14 is a state holiday in Iraq, marking the anniversary of the 1958 overthrow of the monarchy, U.S. forces had been on an "increased security posture" since 6 a.m., Murray said.
The vehicle exploded in a line of cars waiting to be inspected to enter the Green Zone, and Murray said that was proof of the effectiveness of the security measures. The bomber "didn’t make it 10% of the way" into the security layers outside the restricted zone. But the fundamental problem remains that for every secured area, there must be a gateway to public space, the colonel said.
"Unless we search every vehicle every night in this whole country, there’s no way to stop it," he said.
The attack came amid continuing hostage crises in Iraq. A group led by Palestinian-Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi on Tuesday executed one of two Bulgarian hostages, and the Philippine government indicated that it would withdraw its 51 troops from Iraq early in the hope of saving one of its citizens, held by another group of kidnappers.
There was no word on the manner of the killing of the truck driver, identified by the Qatar-based TV channel Al-Jazeezra as Georgi Lazov, 30. Lazov was seized near Mosul in late June along with fellow truck driver Ivailo Kepov, 32.
Zarqawi’s group, Jamaat al Tawhid wal Jihad, has claimed responsibility for beheading American businessman Nicholas Berg and South Korean interpreter Kim Sun Il and carrying out attacks that have killed U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians.
In Washington on Tuesday, the Bush administration said it opposed any early withdrawal of the Philippine force, saying that "it would send the wrong signal to terrorists."
In the Philippines, the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, usually a steadfast ally of the Bush administration, has been under strong public pressure to withdraw the country’s tiny force from Iraq to save the life of Angelo de la Cruz, a father of eight.
The plight of De la Cruz has aroused great sympathy in a country where 8 million people - about 10% of the population - have gone overseas to find jobs. About 4,000 Filipinos work in Iraq, where one died this year in a mortar attack.
Before the kidnapping, Manila planned to pull out its force by Aug. 20. The kidnappers have said they will behead their hostage if the Philippines does not withdraw by July 20.
Manila’s two-sentence announcement this morning left it unclear when the remaining troops and police would be withdrawn. There also was no indication whether eight members of the force had already departed in response to the kidnapping or for other reasons.
In the case of the Bulgarian truck drivers, Bulgarian officials refused to accept the kidnappers’ demands, noting that they had no control over prisoners held by U.S. forces.
Los Angeles Times