Intensive attacks in Iraq, leading figure killed

Attacks and explosions continued in the last hours in various parts of Iraq, the most recent of which was the killing of 10 Iraqis in different attacks in the cities of north Baghdad.

The Iraqi police said that three Iraqi soldiers and one gunmen were killed in clashes that lasted for two hours in Beji area near the headquarters of the local administration. Three teachers from the oil institute were killed in an explosion to the north of the same area.

In another development, Ansar al-Sunnah group in Iraq broadcast a video tape on the Internet showing it assassinated one col. in the Iraqi army called Abdul Jabbar Ali al-Abdullah after he was accused of helping the American forces in Musil city. This group also claimed responsibility for the attack in a booby trapped car which took place on Saturday at the northern entrance of Hella city to the south of Baghdad and this resulted in injuring 10 Iraqis, nine soldiers and one civilian.

Meantime, al-Qaida organization in Mesopotamia led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility in a statement on the Internet of killing Salem Jafar al-Minani, the leading figure in the national reconciliation party which is led by the Interim Iraqi prime minister Eyad Allawi.