Allawi expects the escalation of attacks; 12 persons were killed including five foreigners in Baghdad's attack
Some 12 persons were killed at least including 5 foreign contractors and other 50 injured in the booby trapped car explosion which targeted a procession of cars for the occupation authority in the downtown of Baghdad yesterday morning.
Prime minister of the provisional Iraqi government, Eyad Allawi, said that the five killed persons are working in the sector of electricity. A diplomatic source said that they are two British, one French, one American and one Philippines, noting that their bodies were taken to a clinic for the occupation forces in Baghdad's airport.
Allawi expected the escalation of the pace of attacks in Iraq during the coming phase in an attempt to obstruct authority transfer on June 30. He vowed in a press conference to challenge the executors of these attacks firmly and strongly and to bring them before justice.
The US national security advisor Condaleeza Rice commented on the recent attacks saying that it is an attempt to weaken the will of the new Interim government. She accused what she called the supporters of the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of attempting to escalate violence before handing over the authority.
The driver of the car blew it up when a procession of four cars was running in the crowded trade area in the street which leads from "al-Tahrir " square to the aviation square in the downtown of Baghdad.
The attack also resulted in burning several sedan carts in the site of the explosion and strongly damaging adjoining buildings, including one building which collapsed. Several Iraqis took part in the process of taking out the bodies of the killed and injured from beneath the ruins.
The wounded were admitted to several hospitals situated near the nearby hospitals and medical sources said that many of them were strongly burnt or severely hurt because of the strong explosion.
Moreover, the occupation forces and Iraqi police members and the Iraqi civil defense forces were exposed to different attacks in various parts of the country. Iraqi sources said that one Iraqi civilian was killed and other two were injured in the attack of Sunday evening at a barrier for the Iraqi civil defense forces near Baqouba to the northern east of Baghdad.
Meantime, news reports said quoting the Iraqi police that former member in the Baath party, Raja Muhammad, was killed on Sunday in Baqouba to the north east of Baghdad at the hands of unidentified gunmen. The sources added that the incident took place while she was driving her car in her way back home.
Meantime, the American occupation forces released some 600 Iraqi detainees who were held in Abu Ghreib prison. This is, however, the Third shift released following the scandal of Abu Ghreib prison in the occupation jails.
The US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld vowed to release 1500 detainees by the fall of the date of the authority transfer with the continued detention of other 5,000.
On the other hand, the Iraqi minister of the Interior Falah al-Naqib announced the beginning of using visas for entering the Iraqi territories as from the beginning of July. This was expressed in statements he had made, accompanied by the Iraqi prime minister Eyad Allawi. The tour covered border areas. The tour was described as maintaining security as the first priority.