1 600 gefallene US-Soldaten im Iraq

Al-Kaida ermordet drei Frauen und einen Mann

Weil sie für die USA gearbeitet haben, mussten sie sterben: Der irakische Zweig der Extremistenorganisation Al-Kaida hat einer Internetbotschaft zufolge vier Araber entführt und getötet.

Dubai - Sie hätten für die USA gearbeitet, hieß in der am Sonntag veröffentlichten Erklärung. Im Internet waren Bilder von vier Ausweisen zu sehen. Die Gesichter der Frauen waren geschwärzt. Eine von ihnen soll als Übersetzerin für die US-Besatzer gearbeitet haben.

Zunächst war unklar, ob die vier irakische Staatsbürger waren. Auch die Echtheit der Stellungnahme konnte zunächst nicht überprüft werden. Die Internetseite wird oft von Aufständischen genutzt. In Mossul im Norden des Landes wurde indes ein getöteter Studentenanführer entdeckt, der am Donnerstag nahe seines Hauses entführt worden war. Er sei gefesselt und sein Körper von Schüssen durchlöchert gewesen, teilten Mitarbeiter eines Krankenhauses mit.

Einen Tag vor seiner Entführung hatte der Mann einen Protestzug gegen die Parlamentswahlen vom 15. Dezember organisiert und der Regierung Wahlbetrug vorgeworfen. Zu dem Mord bekannte sich bislang niemand.

 

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Violence claimed the lives of 20 people in Iraq, including a university lecturer and a member of the Diyala provincial council, officials said Monday.

More than 50 people were wounded, including a provincial governor.

A roadside bomb exploded near the convoy of the Diyala province governor, Rashid Mula al-Timimi, at 4:40 a.m. Monday in northeast Baquba, north of Baghdad, said an official with Diyala's provincial Joint Coordination Center in Baquba. The governor was wounded, and a guard killed, the official said.

Later Thursday, gunmen killed a member of Diyala's provincial council, Soad Jafar, and her driver in a southern Baquba neighborhood, an official said.

In addition, five Iraqi police were killed in Buhritz when attackers sprayed quick-reaction forces with machine-gun fire, according to the Joint Coordination Center. Three others were wounded.

No other details were immediately available.

Buhritz is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad.

Also, clashes Sunday evening between Iraqi soldiers and insurgents in Dhabab, 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Baquba, left two soldiers dead and four wounded, the Joint Coordination Center said.

Bombings rattle capital
In the Iraqi capital, five bombings left at least five people dead Monday.

Two targeted police patrols in central Baghdad. One attack killed a civilian and two police officers, police said, leaving four civilians wounded. The other wounded two civilians.

A third car bomb attack, in northern Baghdad, killed a civilian and wounded a dozen others, including three police.

A fourth car bomb went off near a central Baghdad shopping district, wounding six people. Among the wounded was an Iraq police commando.

Also, a parked motorcycle rigged with a bomb exploded in a busy market in northwestern Baghdad, killing a civilian and wounding 23 others, a police official said.

In addition, Iraqi police found three bodies in a drainage canal early Monday, a police official said. All three were shot to death, the official said. The bodies, which have not been identified, were found about 7 a.m. in southeastern Baghdad's Rustimiya area.

Police also found the body of an Iraqi police officer at about 8 a.m. near a highway in eastern Baghdad.

And gunmen killed Noufel Ahmed Hassan, a lecturer at the Institute of Fine Arts, about 8 a.m. as he was leaving his home in northwestern Baghdad's Salam neighborhood for work.

Troop withdrawal
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko arrived Monday in Iraq on an unannounced visit, a security adviser for Iraq's prime minister said.

The Ukrainian delegation includes the country's defense minister. At one point, Ukraine had the sixth-largest contingent in the U.S.-led coalition, at 1,650 troops, but the country is in the process of pulling its forces out.

On Sunday, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said Iraq's insurgency and the capabilities of Iraqi forces will determine the number of U.S. troops remaining in the country.

"The enemy has a vote on this," Gen. Peter Pace said on "Fox News Sunday." (Full story)

His comments came on the heels of last week's announcement by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that President Bush has authorized troop cuts in Iraq next year.

 

The top U.S. military commander admitted that the Iraqis want occupation forces to leave their country “as soon as possible”, according to AFP.

The admission by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Marine General Peter Pace came after the Pentagon announced that it will cut the current level of 160,000 troops in IRAQ by two army brigades, which amounts to about 7,000 soldiers.

"Understandably, Iraqis themselves would prefer to have coalition forces leave their country as soon as possible," Pace said in an interview with Fox News. “They don’t want us to leave tomorrow, but they do want us to leave as soon as possible."

Pace denied that the Pentagon approved a plan to bring U.S. troop levels in IRAQ to below 100,000 by the end of next year. But he said that troop levels are being assessed on a monthly basis by General George Casey, the top U.S. military commander in IRAQ.

"They do a very, very thorough analysis, literally once a month, in great detail," Pace said. "They then determine how many troops they need to get the job done."

Meanwhile, former secretary of state Colin Powell said that he was certain there would be fewer U.S. soldiers in IRAQ in the next year. "I don't think we can sustain this level of presence with the force size that we have," he said on ABC's "This Week" program.

Some U.S. policy experts expected that IRAQ’s parliamentary elections would lead to a gradual withdrawal of occupation forces, but senior army officials have dismissed that forecast as unrealistic.

However, a recent opinion poll by ABC News showed that U.S. military presence in IRAQ is increasingly unpopular. Two-thirds of those polled said they opposed the presence of occupation forces and about 60 percent strongly disapproved of the way the U.S. has operated in IRAQ since the 2003 INVASION.

When asked about a timing for a U.S. withdrawal, 26 percent said occupation troops should "leave now," while 19 percent said a pullout could be appropriate after the Iraqis form a new government based on the outcome of the Dec. 15 elections.

The United States is facing growing opposition to the war. Democrats have been pressing the Bush administration to lay out plans for a withdrawal. Recent polls show that the Americans are unhappy with Bush’s handling of the war.

More than 2,100 American soldiers died in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led INVASION.

IRAQI DEATHS deaths are put at more than 30,000.

Violence
Gunmen attacked a checkpoint at Buruz, near Baquba, killing more than five Iraqi policemen and wounding four others, police said, according to BBC.  

Report say about 30 men attacked the checkpoint early Monday with mortar, anti-tank and small arms fire. "They attacked us from all sides," said one police officer at the scene.

Police said six rebels were killed when policemen returned fire.

Violence surged in IRAQ in recent days following a brief lull in attacks during the elections.  

More than seven Iraqis were killed in bomb explosions in Baghdad on Monday, including an attack on a Shia funeral ceremony.

In other developments;


The governor of the north-eastern province of Diyala survived a car bomb attack. One of his bodyguards was killed and two others wounded, BBC reported.
Gunmen shot dead a local councillor in a town north-east of Baghdad.
The U.S. army announced that two soldiers were killed in separate bomb attacks in Baghdad on Christmas Day.
A Sunni politician was kidnapped by gunmen while traveling from the capital to Baquba.  


 

One U.S. soldier died Monday when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his patrol vehicle in Baghdad, the military said, bringing the number of American troops killed in the Iraq war to 2,167.


füx
 

AP-Artikel:

Dec 27, 2:12 AM EST

Saddam Half Brother Says No Deal With U.S.

By JAMAL HALABY
Associated Press Writer

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Two lawyers for Saddam Hussein said Monday that the former Iraqi president's half brother claims U.S. officials offered him a ranking government position in Iraq if he testified against Saddam but he rejected a deal.

Barazan Ibrahim purportedly made the claim Thursday during a closed-door hearing by the Higher Iraqi Tribunal, which is hearing war crimes charges against Saddam, Ibrahim and six other former officials.

American officials could not be reached for comment Monday, which was a U.S. holiday.

In Baghdad, Chief Prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawi said he could speak only about the closed court hearing and said there was no attempt to cut a deal with Ibrahim then. He declined to discuss what was said at the session.
 
The report first appeared in an interview with Saddam's chief Iraqi lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, that was published Monday in the independent Jordanian newspaper Al Arab Al Yawm.

Another Saddam lawyer later gave a similar account to The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give details of the closed session.

Dulaimi, who is in Baghdad, and the second lawyer said they were present in the courtroom when Ibrahim made his claim.

According to Dulaimi, Ibrahim told the court that the "Americans had offered me a senior political post in return for testifying against the president." Dulaimi said Ibrahim did not elaborate on which post, but said he refused the offer.

 
Ibrahim was captured in April 2003 shortly after U.S. troops took Baghdad.

Saddam and his seven co-defendants are on trial for the deaths of more than 140 Shiite Muslims after an assassination attempt on him in the town of Dujail in 1982. The trial is set to resume on Jan. 24.

 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two U.S. pilots died in a helicopter crash in west Baghdad on Monday night, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.

"There was no hostile fire involved," they said in a statement, without giving further details.

 

Tuesday 27 December 2005, 13:19 Makka Time, 10:19 GMT    


More than 10,000 people took part in the march in Baghdad


 
More than 10,000 people backing Sunni Arab and secular Shia politicians have marched through Baghdad in support of a national unity government.


The marchers, some carrying photos of former interim prime minister Iyad Allawi, the leader of the secular Iraqi National List, demonstrated in Baghdad on Tuesday.

"No Sunnis, no Shias, yes for national unity," marches chanted in favour of a national unity government that would give more power to Sunni Arabs and secular Shia.

"We're protesting to reject the elections fraud. We want to ask the government and the elections commission: 'Where did our votes go? Who stole them?"' said Abdul Hamid Abdul Razza, a 45-year-old barber.

The protest came as three opposition groups warned of a wave of protests and civil disobedience if fraud charges are not properly investigated.

The warning came from Allawi's list and two Sunni Arab groups.

More violence

Meanwhile, attacks on security forces continued, with five Iraqi police and two bystanders killed early on Tuesday.

Clashes erupted between armed men and Iraqi police in Baghdad, killing two policemen and two bystanders and wounding five people, Captain Firas Keti said.


Five Iraq policemen and two
bystanders died on Tuesday


South of Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed two officers and wounded two, and armed men in southern Baghdad killed one officer and wounded another, police said.

Violence increased across Iraq after a lull following the 15 December parliamentary elections, with at least two dozen people killed in shootings and bombings on Monday mostly targeting the security services.

Preliminary figures, including some returns released on Monday from ballots cast early by expatriate Iraqis and some voters inside Iraq, have given a big lead to the religious Shia bloc that controls the current interim government.

Iraq's Electoral Commission said on Monday that final results for the 275-seat parliament could be released in about a week.

Boycott threat

Sunni Arab and secular Shia factions are demanding that an international body review more than 1500 complaints, warning they may boycott the new legislature.

They also want new elections in some provinces, including Baghdad.

"We will resort to peaceful options, including protests, civil disobedience and a boycott of the political process until our demands are met"

Hassan Zaidan al-Lahaibi,  member of the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue


The UN has rejected an outside review.

"We will resort to peaceful options, including protests, civil disobedience and a boycott of the political process until our demands are met," Hassan Zaidan al-Lahaibi, of the Sunni-dominated Iraqi Front for National Dialogue, said.

Among the complaints are 35 that the election commission considers serious enough to change some local results.

But Farid Ayar, a commission official, said: "I don't think there is a reason to cancel the entire elections."

He also said preliminary results from early votes by soldiers, hospital patients and prisoners and overseas Iraqis showed a coalition of Kurdish parties and the main Shia religious bloc each taking about a third.

Overall results

Those nearly 500,000 votes were not expected to alter overall results significantly.


Hopes of an end to the violence
after the polls have been belied

Preliminary results previously released gave the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shia coalition dominating the current government, a big lead, but one unlikely to allow it to govern without forming a coalition with other groups.

Bahaa al-Araji, a member of the Shia alliance, said the group was preparing to negotiate with other political blocs and had already met with the Sunni Arab Iraqi Islamic Party.

Al-Araji also said likely candidates for prime minister were current Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who heads the Islamic Dawa party, and Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who belongs to the other main Shia party, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

 

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Construction workers laying a water pipeline in the Iraqi city of Karbala Monday found a mass grave containing the remains of up to 20 people, Hilla police told CNN.

The gruesome find was about 800 meters (half a mile) from the holy shrine of Imam Hussein.

The grave is believed to contain the bodies of people killed by Saddam Hussein's security forces during the uprising of 1991.

Also on Monday, a U.S. soldier assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), was killed in action, a U.S. military statement said.

The soldier was hit by small arms fire while conducting combat operations in Khalidiya and died from the wounds.

Several U.S. Army units are attached to II MEF (Fwd) during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Since the start of the war, 2,174 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.

Four Shiites killed
In a possible case of sectarian violence, gunmen stormed a poultry farm south of Baghdad Monday night, killing four Shiite workers, a police spokesman told CNN.

Next to the bodies, police found a note that said, "you deserve to die because your are Shiites."

The attack took place in the Ajbala district of al-Mahawil, about 40 miles (65 km) south of Baghdad.

Also in al-Mahawil, a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi police patrol late Monday, killing one police officer and wounding two others.
 

Irak: Proteste gegen Wahlergebnisse


 Hunderte Iraker haben heute in der Hauptstadt Bagdad gegen die Ergebnisse der Parlamentswahl vom 15. Dezember protestiert. Zu der Demonstration hatte die Bewegung "Maram" aufgerufen, zu der sich 42 irakische Parteien zusammengeschlossen haben.

Ein Sprecher verlangte zu Beginn des Protestzugs durch den Westteil der irakischen Hauptstadt die Neubesetzung der Wahlkommission und "ehrliche" Neuwahlen.

Vorwurf des Wahlbetrugs

Die mehrheitlich sunnitische und schiitisch-säkulare Maram-Bewegung wirft der von religiösen Schiiten und Kurden dominierten Regierung Wahlbetrug und der Wahlkommission Parteilichkeit vor.

Sieger der Wahlen ist nach den vorliegenden Teilergebnissen das religiöse Schiiten-Bündnis "Vereinigte Irakische Allianz", das von dem pro-iranischen "Obersten Rat für die Islamische Revolution" (SCIRI) von Abdulasis el Hakim und der Dawa-Partei des amtierenden Ministerpräsidenten Ibrahim el Dschaafari angeführt wird.

70 Prozent Wahlbeteiligung

Nach Angaben der Wahlkommission haben fast 70 Prozent der Stimmberechtigten an der Wahl teilgenommen. Anders als bei den Wahlen zur konstituierenden Nationalversammlung im Jänner beteiligten sich dieses Mal auch viele Vertreter der sunnitischen Minderheit.

Im Jänner hatte die Beteiligung 58 Prozent ausgemacht. An dem Verfassungsreferendum im Oktober beteiligten sich 64 Prozent der stimmberechtigten Iraker.

Politische Beobachter befürchten, dass die Ablehnung des Ergebnisses durch die "Eintracht-Front" die arabischen Sunniten, die sich erstmals seit dem Sturz des Baath-Regimes an einer Wahl beteiligt hatten, zum Abbruch ihrer Beteiligung am politischen Prozess führen könnte.
 

Bagdad (Reuters) - Führende irakische Politiker und Präsident Dschalal Talabani wollen bei einer Klausur in den kommenden Tagen die Grundfesten für die neue Regierung legen. Die Treffen sollen von Dienstag an im relativ friedlichen Norden stattfinden, weit weg von der Hauptstadt Bagdad, wo erneut tausende Menschen gegen die Wahlen vom 15. Dezember protestierten. "Es sind vorläufige und bilaterale Diskussionen zwischen den Kurden und anderen Gruppen", sagte Planungsminister Barham Saleh. "Anfang kommenden Jahres soll es dann größer angelegte Zusammenkünfte geben." Zunächst werde Talabani einen Vertreter der Schiiten treffen, später Kurden und Sunniten.

Vorläufigen Ergebnissen zufolge schnitten die Schiiten weitaus besser ab als erwartet, vor allem in Bagdad. Darüber sind viele Anhänger und Politiker der Sunniten enttäuscht. Sie protestieren seit Tagen gegen den Wahlausgang und fordern eine Wiederholung der Abstimmung. Sunnitische Politiker drohten, falls es nicht zu einer erneuten Wahl kommen sollte, könnten Aufständische ihre Angriffe verstärken. Endgültige Ergebnisse werden Anfang 2006 erwartet.

Das Eindämmen der Gewalt zählt zu den Hauptaufgaben der neuen Regierung. Am zweiten Weihnachtstag wurden bei einer Serie von Anschlägen und Angriffen auf Soldaten mehr als 20 Menschen getötet. Mindestens drei Iraker starben am Dienstag bei Anschlägen in der Stadt Kirkuk im Norden des Landes und in Mahawil südlich von Bagdad
 

Warschau (Reuters) - Polen will seine Truppen ein Jahr länger als bisher geplant im Irak belassen. Die Soldaten sollten nun bis Ende 2006 stationiert bleiben, sagte der polnische Ministerpräsident Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz am Dienstag. Polen unterstreicht damit seine Unterstützung des US-geführten Einsatzes im Irak, obwohl unter den Polen der Widerstand dagegen wächst. Polen ist einer der engsten Verbündeten der USA in Europa und hat derzeit rund 1500 Soldaten im Irak stationiert.

"Dies ist eine sehr schwere Entscheidung", sagte Marcinkiewicz. Die irakischen Behörden hätten aber mit Nachdruck um einen Verbleib der Soldaten gebeten. Die Regierung werde den Präsidenten deshalb um die Verlängerung des am 1. Januar 2006 auslaufenden Mandats für die polnischen Soldaten bitten. Außer den regierenden Konservativen unterstützt keine der großen polnischen Parteien die Mandatsverlängerung. Die linksgerichtete Vorgänger-Regierung in Warschau hatte die Truppen Anfang des Jahres aus dem Irak abziehen wollen, nachdem deren Stärke bereits im Verlauf dieses Jahres reduziert worden war. Polen stellt aber derzeit weiterhin das fünftgrößte Kontingent nach den USA, Großbritannien, Südkorea und Italien.

Der stellvertretende polnische Verteidigungsminister Stanislaw Koziej sagte, das Truppenkontingent werde im März auf 900 Soldaten verringert. Zudem würden sich die polnischen Soldaten verstärkt auf die Ausbildung irakischer Sicherheitskräfte konzentrieren.

Die Entscheidung der polnischen Regierung stützt US-Präsident George W. Bush, nachdem andere US-Alliierte wie Bulgarien, Ungarn und die Ukraine bereits ihren Truppenabzug beschlossen hatten. Die USA selbst wollen ihre Truppenpräsenz im Irak zunächst reduzieren. US-Verteidigungsminister Donald Rumsfeld hatte kurz vor Weihnachten angekündigt, zwei Kampfbrigaden würden im Frühling abgezogen. Das entspricht etwa 8000 bis 10.000 Soldaten. Gegenwärtig sind 150.000 US-Soldaten im Irak stationiert.

 

The numbers of occupation forces in IRAQ dwindled on Tuesday as Ukraine and Bulgaria completed the withdrawal of their soldiers, while Poland said it would cut its force by 600 next year.

The Polish government’s decision to reduce its force reverses a previous plan to withdraw all Polish troops in early 2006.

Poland, a staunch ally of the United States, has about 1,500 soldiers stationed in south-central IRAQ. More than 17 has been killed in the war-torn country since the 2003 U.S.-led INVASION.

Recent opinion polls show the military presence in IRAQ is unpopular at home, with a majority of Poles wanting the soldiers to return.  

Meanwhile, Ukraine and Bulgaria, who has their troops serving in Iraq under Polish command, announced that they completed the withdrawal of their soldiers.

The last Ukrainian troops left IRAQ on Tuesday, the defense ministry said, according to BBC. Their pullout coincided with that of the remaining 130 Bulgarian soldiers.

Ukraine initially opposed the INVASION but later sent 1,650 soldiers to IRAQ, becoming one of the largest non-NATO participants. About eighteen Ukrainian troops have been killed since the war began.

Bulgaria started withdrawing its forces shortly after Iraq’s parliamentary elections, transferring its military responsibilities to Iraqi soldiers.

Correspondents say the withdrawals would deal a major blow to the U.S. President GEORGE W. BUSH, who is facing mounting pressure at home and abroad over his handling of the war.

 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi police shot dead several prisoners in a shootout on Wednesday at a Baghdad military base after one prisoner grabbed a weapon from a guard, Interior Ministry officials and police sources said.

There was confusion over casualty figures. A police source and an Interior Ministry official said more than 20 prisoners were killed but another ministry official insisted there were 15 casualties, some of them only wounded, and that these included one dead police guard and one wounded officer.

The various accounts converged in saying that the trouble began when a prisoner managed to grab a weapon from one of the guards and shoot him. One Interior Ministry official said the guard was wounded while a second prisoner also took a Kalashnikov rifle from another guard and shot him dead.

Prison conditions in Iraq have been a matter of controversy.

U.S. officials have expressed disquiet since the discovery by U.S. troops of dozens of abused Sunni Arab suspects in a secret bunker run by the Interior Ministry, which minority Sunnis accuse of running Shi'ite sectarian militias.

The U.S. military is holding some 14,000 Iraqi guerrilla suspects and commanders say they will not transfer them to Iraqi custody until they are sure of better standards.

U.S. troops were found to have abused prisoners in Baghdad's notorious Abu Ghraib prison in 2004. In other incidents, U.S. troops have shot dead unarmed detainees during prison riots.


 

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Four people, including three police officers, were killed and five police officers were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated at the main gate to Iraq's Ministry of Interior in downtown Baghdad, emergency police said.

The explosion, which occurred at about 9:45 a.m. Thursday, also claimed the life of a civilian, police said.

Roads leading to the ministry were blocked off afterward and searches of people were being conducted.

The violence follows the death of nine people on Wednesday when clashes broke out between guards and prisoners at an Iraqi military base in northern Baghdad.

The incident occurred at al Addala base in Baghdad's Kadimiya neighborhood, which houses suspects accused of major crimes, including terrorism. Iraqis and foreign nationals are being held at the base.

According to the Justice Ministry, three guards took three prisoners out for cleaning duty.

The three prisoners attacked the guards and disarmed one before killing all three and beginning to free other prisoners, the ministry said.

Other prison guards and the Iraqi army responded to the attack, and an hour-long firefight ensued against seven armed prisoners; four detainees, another guard and a translator were killed, the ministry said.

The gunbattle wounded three guards and eight detainees, three of them seriously; no prisoners escaped during the firefight, which was confined to a building that contains the prison cells.

The U.S. military said "16 prisoners attempted to escape the facility after first storming the armory and obtaining an undetermined number of weapons."

The military said that one U.S. soldier was also wounded in the firefight, noting that there had been U.S. trainers on the Iraqi base at the time. The military account said five prisoners were injured.

Violence claims ministry official
Meanwhile, an official in Iraq's Interior Ministry was gunned down in western Baghdad's al Yarmouk neighborhood Tuesday evening, according to emergency police.

Gunmen sprayed Col. Haider Ali with bullets, killing him instantly, while he was outside his car, a police official said.

Separately, the director general of Diyala municipalities escaped an assassination attempt Wednesday morning when gunmen attacked his car east of Baquba -- an assault that wounded two of his guards, an official with the Diyala Joint Coordination Center told CNN.

Mujwal Mehdi was traveling on a road between Kanan and Baquba about 12 miles (20 km) east of Baquba when the gunmen opened fire around 8 a.m. (12 a.m. ET.)

Mehdi's guards were taken to a Baquba hospital for treatment.

Also Wednesday morning, two Iraqi police were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in northern Baghdad's al Waziriya neighborhood, emergency police said.

In southern Baghdad, police found a body in a drainage canal in the al-Dora district. The body has not been identified, the police said.

Elections protested, defended
A U.N. elections official in Iraq, Craig Jenness, said that the December 15 parliamentary elections "were in accordance with international standards" and there is no need for new nationwide balloting -- a demand of many unhappy with the polling.

One of the top critics of the electoral process -- former interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi -- told CNN that a nationwide re-vote would not be practical.

In recent days, there have been mass demonstrations against the election process across the country, including one on Wednesday in Samarra -- which is north of Baghdad in the Sunni heartland. (Full story)

Other developments

Georgia National Guard troops who raided a Baghdad home and found a baby girl with spina bifida are working to get her to Atlanta, where a neurosurgeon has promised to perform a delicate operation for free. Doctors said the baby has only a short time to live without medical attention. (Full story)


Interpol, the international police agency, Wednesday issued an "international wanted persons notice" for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of al Qaeda in Iraq. (Full story)


The Arabic-language TV network Al-Arabiya aired video Wednesday of a French engineer held captive in Iraq and said his captors threatened to kill him unless France ends its "illegitimate presence" in the country. (Full story)


U.S. and Iraqi soldiers discovered and destroyed three weapons caches in north-central Iraq Tuesday, a military statement said. U.S. soldiers discovered about 400 mortar rounds and other munitions while on patrol near Hawija. Iraqi and U.S. soldiers also uncovered and destroyed two smaller caches Near Bayji.  

wie es ist; Sunniten werden dann wohl weiter auf die Barrikaden steigen..


BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A senior U.N. official said Wednesday that Iraq's parliamentary elections were credible and the results should stand, angering Sunni Arabs who have taken to the streets demanding a new vote.

The U.N. endorsement, which came after opposition groups demanded international intervention, was likely to deflate their calls for the elections to be canceled. It also was likely to move Sunni Arabs and secular Shiites closer to the bargaining table ahead of final results, expected to be announced next week.

Preliminary results, which gave a big lead to the ruling Shiite religious bloc, also indicated that Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, a former Washington insider, will not be re-elected to the new 275-member parliament, his office said.

Before the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Chalabi, then living in exile, was a favorite of the Defense Department and the U.S. Congress. A secular Shiite, he fell from grace after his claims that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction were discredited.
 
American forces last year raided Chalabi's Baghdad office after he was accused of giving U.S. intelligence to Iran, but the 60-year-old consummate insider had slowly been working his way back. Pegged as a possible prime minister before the Dec. 15 elections, he met last month in Washington with Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The United Nations official, Craig Jenness, said at a news conference organized by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq that his U.N.-led international election assistance team found the elections to be fair.

"The United Nations is of the view that these elections were transparent and credible," said Jenness, a Canadian electoral expert.

Jenness said the number of complaints was less than one for every 7,000 voters. About 70 percent of Iraq's 15 million voters went to the polls.

 
His remarks came as crucial support for Iraqi election commission officials, who refused opposition demands to step down. They, too, said the elections were free and fair and that they would deal with the few instances of fraud and rigging of ballot boxes.

"No wide, premeditated and systematic fraud was noticed," IECI official Safwat Rashid said.

The Bush administration and many Iraqi officials hope the elections will lead to a broad-based government that will include minority Sunni Arabs as well as secular Shiites such as former interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

"In our view, all communities of Iraq have won in these elections, all will have a strong voice in parliament. We hope the elections will be the start of a new process of strength and unity in Iraq," Jenness said.

One step in that direction came in western Anbar province, where a high-ranking Interior Ministry official made a rare appearance in Ramadi, considered a hot spot for Sunni-led insurgents.

Fahqer Maryosh, the No. 3 official in the ministry, met with local and U.S. military officials to discuss the reestablishment of the Iraqi police in the province, Marine Capt. Jeffrey S. Pool said.

In yet another political demonstration, more than 4,000 people rallied Wednesday in Samarra, a predominantly Sunni Arab town 60 miles north of Baghdad. Demonstrators carried banners reading, "We refuse the election forgery."

Prominent Sunni candidate Saleh al-Mutlaq, who has joined forces with Allawi's secular group to protest what they have described as rampant fraud, said he was angered by Jenness' remarks. He again demanded an independent review of about 1,500 complaints, including 50 or so deemed serious enough to affect the results in some areas.

"The U.N. stand provokes our astonishment because they have not responded to our complaints, which we have submitted," al-Mutlaq told The Associated Press by telephone. "This statement provokes anger and frustration."

He said without elaboration that the U.N. should "check our complaints and then express its views."

Iraqi officials said they had found some instances of fraud that were enough to cancel the results in some places but not to hold another vote in any district.

"After studying all the complaints, and after the manual and electronic audit of samples of ballot boxes in the provinces, the electoral commission will announce within the next few days some decisions about canceling the results in stations where fraud was found," said Abdul Hussein Hendawi, an elections official.

He said fraud was discovered in the provinces of Baghdad, Irbil, Ninevah, Kirkuk, Anbar and Diyala.

Allawi said the election commission should also take into account political violence before the vote.

"There were gross intimidations throughout the country, and especially in certain provinces in the south, and Baghdad too, preceding the elections," Allawi told CNN. "There were assassinations. We had numbers of people on my slate who had been killed, shot and killed, and supporters who have been killed. There were attempts to assassinate others, and they were badly injured."

But Jenness said the U.N. saw no reason to hold a new election.

"Complaints must be adjudicated fairly, but we in the United Nations see no justification in calls for a rerun of any election," he said.

Preliminary results from the vote have given the governing Shiite religious bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, a big lead - but one which still would require forming a coalition with other groups.

The Shiite bloc held further talks with Kurdish leaders Wednesday and said preparations were being made to choose a candidate for prime minister, who they have said must come from the United Iraqi Alliance.

Alliance officials have indicated the likely candidates for prime minister are current Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who heads the Islamic Dawa party, and Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who belongs to the other main Shiite party, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

Also Wednesday:

- Inmates stormed a prison armory in Baghdad, with one grabbing an AK-47 rifle from a guard and firing indiscriminately. They killed eight people, including four guards, before being subdued.

- Militants released a video of a French engineer kidnapped in Iraq three weeks ago and denounced the "illegal French presence" in the country, the Arab news channel Al-Arabiya reported. The video, an excerpt of which was aired on the satellite channel, showed the hostage, identified as Bernard Planche, sitting on a chair with two armed men on either side of him.

---

 

obs Unschuldige waren oder wirklich "Terroristen" wird man wohl nie erfahren...genau so wenig, ob unschuldige Zivilisten dabei ums Leben gekommen sind...


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. fighter jets dropped two 500-pound bombs on a village in northern Iraq, killing 10 Iraqis they suspected of planting explosive devices on a nearby road, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

The incident occurred on Tuesday in a small village near the town of Hawija, 50 km (30 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, the military said.

The pilots were flying a routine patrol when they saw three men digging holes by the side of major road and planting bombs in them, a statement said.

When they heard the planes overhead, the men jumped in a car and fled. They were soon joined by another car as the jets tracked them. They drove the cars into the village and tried to hide by parking between two buildings, the statement said.

The pilots then dropped two 500-pound laser-guided bombs.

"They were able to destroy the vehicles while causing only minimal damage to surrounding structures," the military said.

U.S. soldiers later raided the village and found assault rifles, a machine gun and bomb-making equipment in houses near the site of the air strike. They said they also found a bomb by the side of the road where the men were first spotted.


 

Bürger/Religionskrieges zwischen Sunniten und Schiiten..


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Six gunmen broke into a house just south of Baghdad on Thursday and killed 11 members of the same Shi'ite family by slitting their throats, police said.

They said the family had been warned by insurgents to move out of their largely Sunni district, but had not done so.

 

Paris/Bagdad (Reuters) - Die französische Regierung hat am Donnerstag eindringlich an die Entführer eines französischen Ingenieurs im Irak appelliert, den Mann freizulassen. "Nichts rechtfertigt, dass Bernard Planche in Gefangenschaft gehalten wird", erklärte Frankreichs Außenminister Philipp Douste-Blazy. "Ich appelliere erneut an die Entführer, unseren Landsmann umgehend frei zu lassen", sagte er. Frankreich habe keinerlei militärische Präsenz im Irak und habe sich stets für die volle Souveränität des Landes eingesetzt. Jüngst ist es im Irak wieder vermehrt zu Entführungen von Ausländern gekommen. Die Deutsche Susanne Osthoff war nach drei Wochen unversehrt freigekommen. Bei neuen Gewaltausbrüchen wurden in Bagdad und im Nordirak 14 Menschen getötet.

Eine kaum bekannte irakische Extremistengruppe hatte am Mittwoch im Fernsehsender Al-Arabija damit gedroht, ihre französische Geisel zu ermorden, sollte Frankreich seine "illegale Präsenz" im Irak nicht beenden. Der in Dubai ansässige Sender strahlte ein Video der Gruppe namens "Brigade für die Überwachung des Wohls des Iraks" aus. Darin war ein vor Extremisten sitzender Mann zu sehen, dem Waffen an den Kopf gehalten wurden. Der Mann sagte, er sei Bernard. Einen Nachnamen nannte er nicht. Bewaffnete hatten im Dezember in Bagdad einen französischen Ingenieur entführt, der später vom Irak und von Frankreich als Bernard Planche identifiziert wurde. Planche arbeitete für eine Nicht-Regierungsorganisation in Ost-Bagdad.

Frankreich hat keine Soldaten im Irak und beteiligt sich nicht an der Ausbildung irakischer Sicherheitskräfte. Mit Deutschland zusammen war das Land einer der entschiedensten Gegner des Irak-Krieges. In dem Land halten sich etwa 90 Franzosen auf, rund die Hälfte davon sind Botschaftsmitarbeiter.

TOTE BEI GEWALT IN BAGDAD UND IM NORDIRAK

Bei einem Selbstmordanschlag in der Hauptstadt Bagdad wurden am Donnerstagmorgen nach Polizeiangaben vier irakische Polizisten getötet und fünf weitere verletzt. Der Attentäter, der eine Polizeiuniform trug, sprengte sich in der Nähe des Innenministeriums in die Luft. Im Irak kommt es seit vielen Monaten immer wieder zu Selbstmordanschlägen. Bei ihrem Bemühen, Anschläge zu verhindern, tötete die US-Luftwaffe nach eigenen Angaben am Dienstag in einem nordirakischen Dorf zehn mutmaßliche irakische Bombenleger. Der Vorfall habe sich in der Nähe der 50 Kilometer südwestlich von Kirkuk gelegenen Ortschaft Hauidscha ereignet. Auf einem Routineflug hätten die Piloten an einer Hauptstraße Männer beim Eingraben von Bomben beobachtet. Diese seien nach ihrer Entdeckung mit zwei Autos in das Dorf geflüchtet. Daraufhin hätten die Piloten zwei lasergesteuerte 225-Kilogramm-Bomben abgeworfen.

 

Gewalt im Irak reißt nicht ab - wieder mindestens 25 Tote  

  Allein heute sind im Irak bei einer Serie von Anschlägen, Überfällen und Schießereien mindestens 25 Menschen ums Leben gekommen. Der schlimmste Vorfall ereignete sich in El Latifija nahe der schiitischen Pilgerstadt Kerbela, wo Bewaffnete eine elfköpfige schiitische Familie in ihrem Haus umbrachten.

In Bagdad sprengte sich ein Selbstmordattentäter in der Nähe eines Gebäudes des irakischen Innenministeriums in die Luft und riss dabei sechs irakische Polizisten mit in den Tod. Die Regierung in Paris forderte unterdessen nach der angedrohten Ermordung eines entführten Franzosen die "unverzügliche Freilassung" der Geisel.

In Saklawija, 70 Kilometer westlich von Bagdad, wurde in der Nacht der örtliche Polizeichef durch eine Attacke auf sein Auto lebensgefährlich am Kopf verletzt. Laut Armee-Angaben starben bei Schießereien zudem vier Aufständische und zwei irakische Soldaten. In Bagdad kam ein US-Soldat bei der Explosion einer Bombe um.
 

dessen Freilassung von Georgy


AMMAN (Reuters) - The United States should free Saddam Hussein if it wants to end its problems in Iraq and earn the friendship of Arabs, the former Iraqi president's lawyer wrote in a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush.

The chief lawyer for Saddam at his trial for crimes against humanity in Baghdad told Bush that Iraqis who supported their former leader were waiting for a bold decision from the world's most powerful statesman to free him.

"I call on you (President Bush) to release Mr. President (Saddam) immediately to allow the Iraqis to decide his fate. Only then will you get out of your predicament in Iraq and truly become an advocate of justice," Khalil Dulaimi wrote in a letter obtained by Reuters.

Such a decision would prove to be the panacea that would end Washington's woes over Iraq, Dulaimi asserted.

"Your relations with Iraq will then be historic and you will win the favor of the Arabs and Muslims and the entire world," Dulaimi said, adding that it was the only way to spare Iraq from undergoing a bloody civil war.

"Iraq is heading now toward a destructive civil war... release him so that wounds can heal and his people unite."

Dulaimi also said it will become clear to Bush that Saddam's two-month-old trial is a farce of false witnesses and lies that should be ended. Saddam faces hanging if convicted.

"You will become convinced of President Saddam's complete innocence. His popularity gains by the day and (he) is beloved by millions of Iraqis," Dulaimi said.

For many Iraqis, the televised trial since October has generated mixed feelings of anger and revenge and moved others to criticize it as a show trial.

Iraq's new leaders say Saddam's trial will erase painful memories of a brutal regime and help usher in a new era of democracy and justice.


 

Seoul (Reuters) - Südkorea wird sein Truppenkontingent im Irak Anfang kommenden Jahres um rund ein Drittel reduzieren.

Nach einer Parlamentsentscheidung vom Freitag sollen künftig nur noch 2300 statt derzeit 3200 Soldaten in dem Golfstaat stationiert sein. Insgesamt wurde der Einsatz aber bis Ende 2006 verlängert. Die Regierung hatte den Teilabzug damit begründet, dass die politische Entwicklung im Irak Fortschritte mache. Dass sich Südkorea trotzdem weiter in dem Land engagieren wolle, sei auch ein Zeichen der engen Verbundenheit mit der US-Regierung. Präsident Roh Moo Hyun hatte wiederholt betont, die Truppen würden so lange vor Ort bleiben, wie sie dort gebraucht würden.

Nach den USA und Großbritannien hatte Südkorea bislang das drittgrößte Truppenkontingent im Irak. Die Streitkräfte des asiatischen Landes sind vorwiegend in der nördlichen Region Arbil stationiert.


 

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least five people were killed and 12 wounded when two blasts rocked central Baghdad on Friday, officials said, the latest in a surge of attacks after largely peaceful elections earlier this month.

Initially, interior ministry officials pinned the attacks on two car bombs, but a police source later said mortar rounds that landed on cars were to blame.

The blasts occurred near a transportation center taking commuters to largely Shi'ite areas in northern Baghdad, officials said.

Violence in Iraq has escalated over the past week after a lull in attacks around the December 15 parliamentary election.

 

Insurgents Explode 12 Car Bombs in Iraq

By JASON STRAZIUSO


Associated Press Writer
 
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Twelve car bombs exploded around Iraq on Sunday, including eight in Baghdad that detonated within a three-hour window, as insurgents continued their attacks in the new year. The bombs injured at least 20 people but killed no one, police said.

A Sudanese official on Sunday said six kidnapped employees had been released two days after Sudan announced it would close its embassy in Baghdad, meeting kidnappers' demands. A Cypriot man kidnapped in Iraq four months ago also was released after his family paid a ransom, a relative said Sunday.

In Baghdad, the first car bomb exploded at about 8:15 a.m. as Iraqi army soldiers were patrolling a northern neighborhood, wounding two soldiers, police Lt. Bilal Ali Majid said.

Seven more car bombs exploded over the next 2 1/2 hours, wounding a total of nine people, police said. One suicide attacker died. Police later detonated a ninth car bomb in a controlled explosion.
 
Just north of Tikrit, a suicide car bomber detonated his car near an American patrol, injuring six civilians, police 1st Lt. Ali Jasmin said. Iraqi police had no information on American casualties and U.S. officials had no immediate information.

Two car bombs also exploded in Kirkuk, including one that targeted an American convoy, causing no injuries, police Brig. Sarhat Qadir said. The second bomb targeted a police convoy, wounding three civilians, Qadir said.

In other violence Sunday, about a dozen gunmen attacked a police checkpoint in Mosul, killing one bystander and injuring three policemen, police Brig. Saed Ahmed said.

U.S. Brig. Gen. Donald Alston on Sunday said officials had expected attacks to increase after the security measures put in place for the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections were relaxed.

Straziuso reports insurgents in Iraq have started the new year with a string of attacks.


   
"We're seeing that increase right now," he said. "This is perceived, inappropriately I would say, or inaccurately perhaps, by the enemy as a time of vulnerability as the government transitions ... to a permanent government."

The six kidnapped employees of Sudan's embassy were released on Saturday, a Sudanese official said.

"We talked to the six of them by phone and they told us that they are now at the house of one of their friends," said the Sudanese embassy's charge d'affairs, Mohamed Ahmed Khalil.

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry reported on Dec. 24 that six of its embassy employees had been kidnapped - including the mission's second secretary.

Al-Qaida in Iraq had set a Saturday deadline for Sudan to "announce clearly that it is cutting its relations" with the Iraqi government, or it would kill the hostages. Sudan said Friday it would close its embassy in Baghdad in an effort to win their release.

The terror group has kidnapped and killed a string of Arab diplomats and embassy employees in a campaign to scare Arab governments from setting up full diplomatic missions in Iraq.

In July, al-Qaida abducted the top Egyptian envoy in Baghdad, Ihab al-Sherif, and two Algerian diplomats. It later announced they had been killed. The group also snatched two Moroccan embassy employees in June and said that it had sentenced them to death, though it never stated whether it carried out the sentences.

Garabet Jekerjian, 41, who holds both Cypriot and Lebanese citizenship, was kidnapped by gunmen in Baghdad in August. His brother, Avo Jekerjian, told The Associated Press that he was released in Baghdad Saturday after a ransom of $200,000 was paid to the kidnappers.

Jekerjian had worked for Geto Trading Ltd., a Cyprus-based company supplying food and alcoholic drinks to U.S. forces. Islam prohibits consumption of alcohol. His brother said the company contributed to the ransom, but he would not say how much.

On Saturday, at least 20 people were killed in a series of bombings and shootings.

A U.S. soldier also died from wounds Saturday from a mortar attack in Baghdad, the military said, putting the American military death toll in 2005 at 841 - five short of 2004's record total despite political progress and dogged U.S. and Iraqi efforts to quash the insurgency. A total of 846 troops died in 2004 and 485 in 2003.

The United States hopes that as more Iraqi police and army forces are trained, they will slowly take over responsibility for security from American troops. Much of that expectation hinges on the ability of Iraq's ethnic and sectarian groups to form a broad-based government that will have the legitimacy to deflate the Sunni Arab-led insurgency.

"American Idol 3" star Diana DeGarmo and other entertainers treated hundreds of U.S. forces in Baghdad to a New Year's Eve show on Saturday. The performers were traveling with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace as part of a six-nation holiday tour to thank the troops.

Iraq's electoral commission, meanwhile, repeated a call Saturday for the country's political groups to remove from their tickets 90 former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party before it issues final election results this week
 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of countries providing troops to serve in Iraq as part of the American-led coalition is declining, and some key U.S. allies have announced plans to keep forces there only at reduced levels.

These developments come as the United States plans to roll back the size of its own 155,000-member force that was in place for December 15 Iraqi parliamentary election and considers deeper troop cuts later in 2006.

Meanwhile, the number of U.S.-trained Iraqi security personnel has been steadily growing and stands at 223,000, according to Pentagon figures.

There are 20,000 non-U.S. foreign troops in the coalition from two dozen countries, with the largest contingent the roughly 8,500 British providing security in southern Iraq.

The number of countries providing troops peaked at 38 earlier in the war, which the United States launched with an invasion in March 2003 to topple President Saddam Hussein's government.

The number of non-U.S. foreign troops has fallen by several thousand in the past year.

Following the United States and Britain, the next largest current troop contributors are: South Korea with 3,200; Italy with 2,900; and Poland with 1,500.

In recent days, South Korea and Poland have announced plans to scale back their presence, while Ukraine and Bulgaria withdrew the last of their troops.

"Obviously every time you get a weakening of the coalition, it highlights the lack of international support for the U.S. mission," said defense analyst Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"And internally, it again raises the problem that rather than seeing an international force, Iraqis always see U.S. troops. And that raises all kinds of questions about whether the U.S. will leave," Cordesman said.

 

13 car bombs wound 20 people across Iraq
 
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Insurgents exploded 13 car bombs across Iraq on Sunday, including eight in Baghdad within a three-hour span, but the New Year's Day onslaught killed no one and injured only 20 people, police said.

A Sudanese official, meanwhile, announced that six kidnapped employees were freed after Sudan announced it would close its Baghdad embassy as demanded by the kidnappers. A Cypriot man kidnapped four months ago also was freed after his family paid a ransom, a relative said.

The day's first car bomb in Baghdad exploded at about 8:15 a.m., wounding two Iraqi soldiers in an army patrol in a northern neighborhood, police Lt. Bilal Ali Majid said.

Seven more car bombs exploded over the next 2 1/2 hours, wounding a total of nine people, police said. One suicide attacker died. Police later detonated a ninth car bomb in a controlled explosion.

 

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Near Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, a suicide bomber blew up his car near an American patrol, injuring six civilians, police 1st Lt. Ali Jasmin said. Iraqi police had no information on American casualties and U.S. officials had no immediate information.

A car bomb targeted a U.S. convoy in the northern city of Kirkuk, but caused no injuries, police Brig. Sarhat Qadir said. A second bomb was aimed at an Iraqi police convoy and wounded three civilians, Qadir said.

Another car bomb exploded near a U.S. patrol in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, and Diyalaa police said there may have been Americans casualties. U.S. officials had no immediate comment.

On Saturday, at least 20 people were killed in a series of bombings and shootings.

Alston says the latest spate of bombings in Iraq is not surprising, as officials predicted an increase in attacks.



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U.S. Brig. Gen. Donald Alston said Sunday that officials had expected attacks to increase after the security measures put in place for the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections were relaxed.

"We're seeing that increase right now," he said. "This is perceived, inappropriately I would say, or inaccurately perhaps, by the enemy as a time of vulnerability as the government transitions ... to a permanent government."

In other violence, about a dozen gunmen attacked a police checkpoint in the northern city of Mosul, killing one bystander and injuring three policemen, police Brig. Saed Ahmed said.

Police killed two protesters in Kirkuk rioting over a countrywide gasoline shortage caused by deteriorating security for tanker-truck drivers, Capt. Ferhad Talabani said. He said the demonstrators set fire to a fuel station and attacked police.

The Palestinian Embassy in Baghdad announced that gunmen killed the son of an attache Saturday. Azzam Ibrahim Mohsin, 17, was inside a car house in western Baghdad when he was shot, Dalil al-Qusous, the Palestinian charge d'affairs told The Associated Press on Sunday.

The six kidnapped employees of Sudan's embassy were released Saturday, a Sudanese official said.

"We talked to the six of them by phone and they told us that they are now at the house of one of their friends," said the embassy's charge d'affairs, Mohamed Ahmed Khalil.

Al-Qaida in Iraq had set a Saturday deadline for Sudan to "announce clearly that it is cutting its relations" with the Iraqi government or it would kill the hostages. Sudan said Friday it would close its embassy in Baghdad.

Al-Qaida militants have kidnapped and killed a string of Arab diplomats and embassy employees in a campaign to scare Arab governments from setting up full diplomatic missions in Iraq.

In July, al-Qaida abducted the top Egyptian envoy in Baghdad, Ihab al-Sherif, and two Algerian diplomats. It later announced they had been killed. The group also snatched two Moroccan embassy employees in June and said it sentenced them to death, though it never stated whether it carried out the sentences.

The released Cypriot was identified as Garabet Jekerjian, 41, who holds both Cypriot and Lebanese citizenship and was kidnapped by gunmen in Baghdad in August. His brother, Avo Jekerjian, told AP he was let go Saturday after a $200,000 ransom was paid to the kidnappers.

Jekerjian had worked for Geto Trading Ltd., a Cyprus-based company supplying food and alcoholic drinks to U.S. forces. Islam prohibits consumption of alcohol. His brother said the company contributed to the ransom, but he would not say how much.