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BASRA, Sept 20: The American death toll in bomb attacks across Iraq rose to nine over a two-day period after four security agents, including assistant regional security officer Stephen Sullivan, were killed in a suicide car bomb attack on a US diplomatic convoy in Mosul on Monday.
Four US soldiers were killed the same day in the western town of Ramadi, while a military policeman died in a roadside bombing north of Baghdad on Tuesday, the military said.
In the Mosul incident, a suicide car bomber killed four American security agents in an attack on a three-car diplomatic convoy.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice paid tribute to the senior security officer. “We mourn the loss of one of our own in Iraq ... Steve Sullivan died ... for the cause of democracy and freedom,” she said in a statement.
TURK FREED: A Turkish businessman kidnapped in Iraq in May has been freed after paying a ransom of 250,000 dollars, Turkish newspapers said.
Ali Musluoglu, 48, was kidnapped by gunmen who said they belonged to a group called the Ali Ibn Abi Taleb Brigades and threatened to kill him if his company did not stop providing logistical support to US troops.
“I was tortured,” Mr Musluoglu said after returning home. “They whipped my back and arms.”
SADDAM’S TRIAL: In Amman, Saddam Hussein’s legal team complained it had not been informed by Iraqi authorities of the date set for his trial or the charges against him.
“The defence has not been enabled to review any files of the charges ... despite the fact that we have made many and repeated requests to this effect,” his Iraqi lawyer Khalil Dulaimi said in a statement.—AFP
