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Car Bombs kill at least 40 in Iraq; Brits Prepare to Exit Basra

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Triple Car Bombing kills at least 40 in Iraq

Baghdad, Dec 12 (Prensa Latina) At least 40 persons died and 100 others
were wounded on Wednesday in three car bomb explosions in the Iraqi
city of Amara, capital of the southern province of Maysan, said police.

The vehicles were about 50 yards from one another and detonated
consecutively.

Local police said an explosive-laden car parked in a garage blew up.

Shortly afterwards, a second car exploded about 50 yards away as people
gathered to examine the damage from the first.

According to eyewitnesses, the third car bomb detonated near a cinema.

So far, reports on the victims are contradictory since the death toll
is expected to increase due to the serious conditions of the wounded,
said the sources.

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AFP - Dec 12, 2007
http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/071212194712.yght8idg.html

Iraq car bombs kill 33 as Britain poised to return Basra

AMARA, Iraq (AFP) - Four car bombs killed at least 33 people in Iraq on
Wednesday, including 28 in the southern city of Amara, as Baghdad said
it would retake control of Basra province from British forces on Sunday.

Triple car bombs in Amara killed at least 28 people and wounded another
151, 10 of them children, said Zamil Shia'a al-Oreibi, director general
of Amara health department.

Amara police Lieutenant Ali Kadhim Hassan said the bombs exploded
within minutes of each other, the first going off at 10:30 am (0730
GMT).

Hundreds of relatives rushed to hospitals to seek loved ones as Amara
police announced a 24-hour curfew, an AFP correspondent reported.

"The security personnel must carefully check all the cars in the city,
especially those entering the city," said Ali Hussein, 35, whose
11-year-old brother was wounded in the attack.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called the bombings a "desperate act
aimed at shaking the security and stability in Maysan which had
suffered under the former regime." Amara is the capital of Maysan
province.

US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the attacks
were by a "determined enemy" that "does not want the Iraqi people to
live in security and freedom."

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said: "Clearly violence in Iraq is
something that has gone down significantly but is still a major
problem."

She said Commander of US forces in Iraq General David Petraeus and US
Defence Secretary Robert Gates said that the security gains made were
"quite significant."

"We in no way are out of the woods yet and we have got, still got a lot
of work to do," Perino added.

British troops transferred security control of Maysan province to Iraqi
forces in April but the region has seen intense Shiite infighting and
battles between militias and Iraqi police.

British soldiers pulled out of Amara in August 2006 and the city of
350,000 residents immediately saw gangs of looters move in and strip
the barracks bare.

Shiite gunmen linked to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army
celebrated the British withdrawal as a victory, boasting they had
liberated Amara from an occupying force.

Hours after the Amara bombings, a suicide bomber blew up his
explosives-rigged car on a bridge connecting villages with the town of
Hit in the western province of Anbar, killing five people, said police
Major Majid Omar.

Wednesday's blasts were the latest in a series of attacks over the past
week after a group linked to Al-Qaeda warned it would unleash a bombing
campaign.

The Amara attacks dealt a blow to claims by London and Baghdad that
security in southern regions of Iraq was under control.

However, Baghdad on Wednesday announced it would take over security of
Basra -- the key southern province which sits on vast oil reserves --
from British troops on Sunday.

"The handover of Basra will take place on December 16," Iraqi
government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters in Basra. A military
spokeswoman in Basra confirmed the date to AFP.

Dabbagh said Iraqi forces were ready to take control of Basra. "Our
security forces are at a good level" and can manage "security in the
province," he said.

Basra police chief Major General Jalil Khalif, who escaped two
assassination attempts last month, also expressed confidence.

"We have already been maintaining security since a long time in Basra.
You can't see any coalition forces deployed here," Khalif said, adding
that tribal and political groups had agreed to support the forces.

"They have agreed to give up heavy arms and also not to carry small
arms on the streets," he added.

A British parliamentary committee has said that Britain failed in its
original aim of bringing security to southern Iraq, however.

"The initial goal of UK forces in southeastern Iraq was to establish
the security necessary for the development of representative political
institutions and for economic reconstruction," the House of Commons
defence committee said.

"Although progress has been made, this goal remains unfulfilled."

Britain has about 5,500 troops in southern Iraq. They are expected to
be cut by more than half to 2,500 by early next year after Iraqis
assume control of Basra province.

London says 173 British troops have been killed since the US-led
invasion of Iraq to oust dictator Saddam Hussein in March 2003.


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