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Tuesday June 29, 8:21 PM
Nine killed on first day of Iraq government, Turkish hostages freed
Three US soldiers and six Iraqis were killed in violence on the first day of business for Iraq's new government after it formally regained sovereignty from the US-led coalition. As Ankara hailed the release of three Turks kidnapped in Iraq and threatened with decapitation, US President George W. Bush said NATO's agreement to train the new Iraqi army was "a crucial success for the Iraqi people". The three Turks kidnapped weeks ago were released, said a Turkish official and a statement from their kidnappers carried by Al-Jazeera television, hours before an ultimatum to kill them was due to expire. The hostages were held by the armed Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War) group, led by the Jordanian Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, said to be linked to the Al-Qaeda terror network.
"In view of your honourable attitude ... we are freeing these hostages and releasing them after they pledged to no longer help the infidels," a spokesman for the group said in a videotape aired by the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera. The group had said in a tape broadcast Saturday that the three would be beheaded within 72 hours unless Turkish firms stopped working for the Americans in Iraq. The Turkish government rejected the ultimatum.
Iraq awoke as a sovereign nation Tuesday for the first time since last year's US-led invasion with the legal end of the occupation despite a heavy foreign troop presence, as at least nine people were killed in a wave of attacks. Three US marines were killed and two wounded when their convoy was hit in a bomb attack in Baghdad, the US military said in a statement. The deaths raised to 632 the number of American troops killed in action since the invasion.
Two Iraqi insurgents were killed in a gunbattle on a Baghdad police station. And in the town of Mahmudiyah, south of the capital, one policeman was killed and another injured in an attack on police headquarters. A district police chief in Kirkuk escaped an assassination attempt, but his driver was killed, said the city's police chief, while in Mosul, two Kurdish peshmerga fighters were killed in the third attack of its kind since Saturday.
In Istanbul, Bush hailed NATO's agreement to train Iraqi security forces as a vital achievement for the Iraqi people, in a speech to university students. "NATO has agreed to help train the security forces of a sovereign Iraq -- a great advantage and crucial success for the Iraqi people," he said.
Amid the unrest, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said multinational troops could only stay in Iraq as long as they were wanted. "If you don't wish us to stay, we have no right to be there," he told Pentagon-funded Iraqiya TV in Istanbul, where he was attending a NATO summit. For his part, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw admitted on BBC radio that some mistakes were made in Iraq in the transition of power. "In this transition some mistakes have been made," Straw said in an interview. "I accept, with the benefit of hindsight, there were decisions made ... which might have been done differently," Straw said.
The transfer of sovereignty has been cautiously welcomed around the world, although many opponents of the US-led war have reserved judgement about the heavy foreign troop presence that remains in the country. In Washington, the US military said it was analyzing a tape on which insurgents claimed they had executed US soldier Keith Maupin, who had been held hostage in Iraq for more than two months. The US military was initially unable to confirm the claim.
Al-Jazeera said it had received video footage purportedly showing the hostage speaking, followed by a man being shot dead as he knelt with his back to the camera in front of a ditch.
Two other hostages, a US marine and a Pakistani have been threatened with decapitation by their captors unless detained Iraqis are released.
Back in Baghdad, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said jailed Saddam Hussein and 11 former officials from his regime would be transferred by the US-led force to Iraqi custody on Wednesday and his arrest warrant read out the following day.
"This government has formally requested the transfer of the most notorious and high profile detainees to Iraqi legal custody," Allawi told reporters.
"So Saddam Hussein ... along with up to 11 other high valued detainees will be transferred to the legal custody of Iraq tomorrow."
The 11 include former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, ex-vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan and Ali Hassan al-Majid, Saddam's cousin who has been blamed for the gassing of Kurds in 1988 that cost thousands of lives.
On the southern bank of the Tigris, new ambassador John Negroponte, a controversial veteran of the US foreign service, has already moved into the former US residence.
Negroponte arrived in Baghdad late Monday, hours after former US overseer Paul Bremer flew home.
Kuwait swiftly also announced the resumption of diplomatic relations with Baghdad, severed since Saddam's forces invaded the emirate in 1990, while France said that it was prepared to reopen official diplomatic ties.
But Thailand said it would withdraw its troops ahead of their scheduled departure from Iraq in September if the unrest worsens.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said "if there was no security or no one needed our help we can withdraw immediately," he told reporters.
Thailand posted a 450-strong contingent including engineers and medics to Iraq last September after remaining neutral during the spring 2003 invasion.
On the cultural front, UNESCO warned that heritage sites in Iraq continue to be looted and called for better security so it could send teams back to properly assess the damage.
Nine killed on first day of Iraq government, Turkish hostages freed
Three US soldiers and six Iraqis were killed in violence on the first day of business for Iraq's new government after it formally regained sovereignty from the US-led coalition. As Ankara hailed the release of three Turks kidnapped in Iraq and threatened with decapitation, US President George W. Bush said NATO's agreement to train the new Iraqi army was "a crucial success for the Iraqi people". The three Turks kidnapped weeks ago were released, said a Turkish official and a statement from their kidnappers carried by Al-Jazeera television, hours before an ultimatum to kill them was due to expire. The hostages were held by the armed Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War) group, led by the Jordanian Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, said to be linked to the Al-Qaeda terror network.
"In view of your honourable attitude ... we are freeing these hostages and releasing them after they pledged to no longer help the infidels," a spokesman for the group said in a videotape aired by the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera. The group had said in a tape broadcast Saturday that the three would be beheaded within 72 hours unless Turkish firms stopped working for the Americans in Iraq. The Turkish government rejected the ultimatum.
Iraq awoke as a sovereign nation Tuesday for the first time since last year's US-led invasion with the legal end of the occupation despite a heavy foreign troop presence, as at least nine people were killed in a wave of attacks. Three US marines were killed and two wounded when their convoy was hit in a bomb attack in Baghdad, the US military said in a statement. The deaths raised to 632 the number of American troops killed in action since the invasion.
Two Iraqi insurgents were killed in a gunbattle on a Baghdad police station. And in the town of Mahmudiyah, south of the capital, one policeman was killed and another injured in an attack on police headquarters. A district police chief in Kirkuk escaped an assassination attempt, but his driver was killed, said the city's police chief, while in Mosul, two Kurdish peshmerga fighters were killed in the third attack of its kind since Saturday.
In Istanbul, Bush hailed NATO's agreement to train Iraqi security forces as a vital achievement for the Iraqi people, in a speech to university students. "NATO has agreed to help train the security forces of a sovereign Iraq -- a great advantage and crucial success for the Iraqi people," he said.
Amid the unrest, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said multinational troops could only stay in Iraq as long as they were wanted. "If you don't wish us to stay, we have no right to be there," he told Pentagon-funded Iraqiya TV in Istanbul, where he was attending a NATO summit. For his part, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw admitted on BBC radio that some mistakes were made in Iraq in the transition of power. "In this transition some mistakes have been made," Straw said in an interview. "I accept, with the benefit of hindsight, there were decisions made ... which might have been done differently," Straw said.
The transfer of sovereignty has been cautiously welcomed around the world, although many opponents of the US-led war have reserved judgement about the heavy foreign troop presence that remains in the country. In Washington, the US military said it was analyzing a tape on which insurgents claimed they had executed US soldier Keith Maupin, who had been held hostage in Iraq for more than two months. The US military was initially unable to confirm the claim.
Al-Jazeera said it had received video footage purportedly showing the hostage speaking, followed by a man being shot dead as he knelt with his back to the camera in front of a ditch.
Two other hostages, a US marine and a Pakistani have been threatened with decapitation by their captors unless detained Iraqis are released.
Back in Baghdad, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said jailed Saddam Hussein and 11 former officials from his regime would be transferred by the US-led force to Iraqi custody on Wednesday and his arrest warrant read out the following day.
"This government has formally requested the transfer of the most notorious and high profile detainees to Iraqi legal custody," Allawi told reporters.
"So Saddam Hussein ... along with up to 11 other high valued detainees will be transferred to the legal custody of Iraq tomorrow."
The 11 include former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, ex-vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan and Ali Hassan al-Majid, Saddam's cousin who has been blamed for the gassing of Kurds in 1988 that cost thousands of lives.
On the southern bank of the Tigris, new ambassador John Negroponte, a controversial veteran of the US foreign service, has already moved into the former US residence.
Negroponte arrived in Baghdad late Monday, hours after former US overseer Paul Bremer flew home.
Kuwait swiftly also announced the resumption of diplomatic relations with Baghdad, severed since Saddam's forces invaded the emirate in 1990, while France said that it was prepared to reopen official diplomatic ties.
But Thailand said it would withdraw its troops ahead of their scheduled departure from Iraq in September if the unrest worsens.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said "if there was no security or no one needed our help we can withdraw immediately," he told reporters.
Thailand posted a 450-strong contingent including engineers and medics to Iraq last September after remaining neutral during the spring 2003 invasion.
On the cultural front, UNESCO warned that heritage sites in Iraq continue to be looted and called for better security so it could send teams back to properly assess the damage.
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