Four American missionaries, one German, one Dutch were killed; Bremer to Kurds: Saddam will pay for Halabja massacre
Iraq, Politics, 3/17/2004

The American civil administrator of Iraq, Paul Premer, promised the Kurds, during his participation in a celebration of Halabja massacre anniversary that the toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his aides will be tried over the chemical attack which resulted in killing 5,000 persons in this city 16 years ago.

Bremer told the families of the massacre's victims "I want to say to those who still suffer the significance of the war in my own country and elsewhere in the world: come to Halabja," stressing that Saddam Hussein and Ali Hassan al-Majid better known as " Ali Chemical " held by the American occupation forces will be tried over their role in the massacres.

The celebration held on the massacre anniversary, which was also attended by the British Representative in Iraq Jeremy Greenstock was held amid tough security measures and large numbers of the Kurdish Bashmarka fighters were deployed.

The leaders of the Kurdistani national federation Jalal al-Talibani, for his part described the attack against Halabja as an evidence to use "the mass destruction weapons by the Iraqi dictator." He added : I do say to those who do not believe that "please come to Halabja and see how mass destruction weapons were used."

Meantime, four different attacks were held during less than 24 hours resulted in 12 killings, including three members of the Iraqi police, four American missioners, one Dutch and one German who were working in a water maintenance network. The higher commander of the American forces in Iraq Gen. Ricardo Sanchaise said that the attacks which targeted the missionary Baptists in Musil on Monday aimed at partitioning the international coalition which occupies Iraq and is composed of 36 countries.

The two German and Dutch engineers were killed in the rocky area to the north of Karbala and their Iraqi driver and one policeman were killed in the same attack, while two local police members were killed.

The attack came after the killing of four American missioners on Monday in a similar attack in Musil where they were working in a water proliferation project. Three of them were killed immediately and the fourth died yesterday at the hospital and the fifth survived.

In Musil, armed men in a car attacked a vehicle for the Iraqi police and killed three of them, one is a police colonel and a fourth was wounded before they had escaped.

A third attack in the same city resulted in killing one Iraqi woman working as a translator for the occupation forces and wounding of two members of her family.

Previous Stories:
  Vice President Khaddam confers with Iraqi al-Watan party delegation   (3/15/2004)
  Occupation tightens control on Iraqi borders; Four American soldiers killed in two attacks in Baghdad   (3/15/2004)
  Moussa confers with al-Ibrahimi   (3/13/2004)

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