BAGHDAD, Jan 4: Gunmen assassinated Baghdad's governor on Tuesday and a suicide truck bomb killed 10 in the latest attack to hit Iraqi security forces, raising further concerns about the viability of Iraq's landmark elections.
Against the backdrop of violence, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi telephoned US President George Bush to discuss the obstacles to Jan 30 elections, the New York Times reported.
A car of gunmen drove up and opened fire on Tuesday morning on Baghdad governor Ali Radi al-Haidari and his bodyguard, killing both of them, in the north western district of Hurriyah, an interior ministry official said.
Accounts of a meticulously-plotted assassination gave the impression the governor's circle had been infiltrated. One witness said the governor's three-vehicle convoy was travelling east when two cars coming from the opposite direction stopped in the street and three masked gunmen stepped out and unleashed a barrage of gunfire.
Another account described the gunmen as lying in wait on the roadside for the governor's convoy to arrive. Two bodies were pulled out of a black armoured BMW and splotches of blood stained the asphalt.
"The gunfire we heard was so heavy. We felt like it was all-out war outside," said Ali al-Amari, a principal whose school was located where the ambush took place.
Also on Tuesday morning, insurgents assaulted a base of the interior ministry's elite commandos force with a suicide truck bomb, killing at least 10 and wounding 56, Iraqi security and US military officials said.
One witness, Abu Maiss, said the vehicle slammed into the gates of the base of the elite commando division and hit a car, before bursting into flames. Commando Hamid Attiyah, 19, said: "I was being handed my weapon when I saw a yellow truck drive over.
My comrade manning the machine gun opened heavy fire at him but he wouldn't stop and then the truck exploded. It was a heavy shake, we were blown back." The explosion was not far from the fortress-like Green Zone, home to the US embassy and the interim Iraqi government.
The latest violence followed two car bombings on symbols of Iraqi power on Monday, as insurgents intensified their efforts to derail Iraq's elections. Four people were killed and 24 wounded on Monday in a suicide blast near the Baghdad headquarters of Allawi's Iraqi National Accord. Two of the dead and 18 of the wounded were Iraqi policemen. -AFP
ANWAR IQBAL ADDS FROM WASHINGTON: The White House said on Tuesday that the assassination of Baghdad's governor has only strengthened its resolve to hold elections in Iraq as scheduled.
Despite a rapid increase in violence, the US administration says it is sticking its plan to hold the election on Jan 30. "We're moving forward to support the Iraqi people as they move to elections at the end of this month," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters in Washington, hours after insurgents killed Ali al-Haidari and his bodyguards.
"For much of the country, the situation is secure enough to move forward on holding elections," Mr McClellan said. "There are a few areas that we're continuing to work to improve the security situation, so those areas will be able to have as full a participation as possible in elections."
"We condemn that in the strongest terms," Mr McClellan said. "The choice is clear for everyone in Iraq and the international community you can stand on side of freedom, democracy and peace, or you stand on the side of the terrorists."
Mr McClellan confirmed that President Bush had spoken with Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi on Monday, but said the two leaders did not discuss postponing the elections.
"There was no discussion of that in the phone call, none," the spokesman said. They focused on "some of the ongoing challenges as Iraq moves forward toward a free, democratic and peaceful future," Mr McClellan said.
