Attacks in Iraq leave 12 dead

Published April 20, 2005

BAGHDAD, April 19: Guerilla attacks killed at least 12 people in Iraq on Tuesday as a resurgence in violence piled pressure on politicians struggling to form a government more than 11 weeks after elections. In Baghdad, a suicide car bomber killed four National Guards in the Athamiya district, police and hospital officials said. Thirty-eight people were wounded in the blast — the latest in a string of car bombings in the capital in the past week.

Another suicide car bomber detonated next to a US army convoy travelling close to the capital’s international airport and locals said there were many casualties. A US military spokesman said he had no immediate information.

West of the capital, insurgents opened fire on members of Iraq’s National Guard in the restive town of Khaldiya, killing five people and wounding four, police said.

Near Haditha, another violent city on the river Euphrates northwest of the capital, residents said US warplanes bombed a suspected insurgent hideout. Local doctor Waleed al-Hadithi said two people were killed and three wounded.

Gunmen also killed Baghdad University professor Fouad al- Bayati on Tuesday

—Reuters