[NYTr] Dozens Killed Throughout Iraq as Year Ends

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Radio Havana Cuba
http://www.radiohc.cu/ingles/portada.htm


Dozens Killed Throughout Iraq as Year Ends

Baghdad, January 1 (RHC)-- Bomb attacks on Monday killed at least 16
people, including two Iraqi soldiers, in one of the most violent days
in recent weeks in the occupied Arab nation. In the deadliest attack, a
truck bomb exploded at a checkpoint in the Tarmiya area north of
Baghdad. The blast killed at least five security guards, members of a
Sunni Arab tribe that volunteered for guard duty. In Diyala province,
60 miles north of the capital, explosions killed six people, wounding
at least five others in Baquba.

The attacks took place just two days after the appearance on Web sites
of an hour-long audio recording by Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. In
his message, bin Laden speaks at length about Iraq and the Awakening
Councils, a collection of more than 300 tribal councils of Sunni Arabs
who have renounced Al Qaeda and have joined forces with U.S. military
occupation troops. Bin Laden warns his followers of "plots that are
being hatched by the Zionist-Crusader alliance" to "steal the fruit of
blessed jihad" in Iraq and urges them to resist American overtures.
"Recruiting hypocrite chieftains of tribes is one axis," said bin
Laden, according a translation into English of the audio. "America,
along with its agents in the region, is seeking through the other axis
to form a new government. This government will be called a national
unity government."

Monday's attacks show how fragile the situation is in occupied Iraq.
American and Iraqi military officials have touted a recent lull as a
success brought on by the recent surge of U.S. occupation forces, the
recruitment of more than 100,000 Iraqi police officers and thousands of
Sunni Arab security volunteers. However, General David H. Petraeus, the
overall commander of U.S. invasion forces in Iraq, recently
characterized those security gains as "reversible."