Chaos, frenzy prevails in Baghdad: Ministries buildings set ablaze, embassies looted
BAGHDAD, April 10: Baghdad descended into chaos on Thursday with ministries ablaze and looters rampaging through the city, where at least one US soldier was killed in the first suicide bombing since the fall of the Iraqi government.
The attack came just one day after the city fell to US troops amid the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s rule, showing that diehard loyalists were continuing to put up fierce resistance to US forces.
Five ministries were set on fire in the centre of the occupied city.
A US military source said the suicide attack happened in Saddam City, an impoverished suburb in the north of Baghdad.
US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a televised address to the Iraqi people on a new channel, “Towards Freedom”, promising that the country’s future lay in their hands.
But in Baghdad, where three weeks of bombing to wrest power from Saddam Hussein have shattered communication networks and cut the electricity supply, the message failed to reach its intended audience.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the military campaign had been waged at a heavy toll, urging the United States and Britain to respect international commitments to maintain law and order, amid the anarchy on Baghdad’s streets.
“When you think of the casualties — both military and civilian — the Iraqis have paid a heavy price for this,” he said. “It appears there is no functioning government in Iraq at the moment.”
There has still been no news of Saddam, and it is unclear what has become of the man who ruled Iraq for nearly a quarter of a century.
US officials said they were confident they would find the weapons of mass destruction they believed Saddam to have been developing. Washington had used the alleged arsenals to provide the political justification to invade Iraq.
“We have high confidence that they have weapons of mass destruction — that is what this war was about, and is about — and we have high confidence it will be found,” White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters.
BUSH SPEECH: In his television address to Iraqis, Mr Bush said: “A long era of fear and cruelty is ending... You deserve better than tyranny and corruption and torture chambers. You deserve to live as free people.”
His vow was matched by Mr Blair, who said: “The money from Iraqi oil will be yours; to be used to build prosperity for you and your families.”
“We will work with you to build the peaceful, prosperous Iraq that you want, and you deserve. This Iraq will not be run by Britain, or by the US, or by the UN. It will be run by you, the people of Iraq.”
FIERCE FIREFIGHT: One US soldier and five Iraqis were earlier killed in fighting in Baghdad, as US combat helicopters came to the aid of troops battling in the centre of the city.
US troops clashed with the former president’s Fedayeen paramilitary units in various parts of the city. —AFP
