BAGHDAD, 2 November 2004 — Gunmen assassinated the deputy governor of Baghdad yesterday, a day after Iraq’s US-backed interim prime minister spoke of an imminent military showdown with rebels in the western city of Fallujah.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said Hatem Karim was killed and two bodyguards were wounded in a drive-by shooting in the southern Dora district of the Iraqi capital.
There was no firm word on the motive for Karim’s killing, but insurgents have assassinated many officials of the interim government, seen as cooperating with US-led forces in Iraq.
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said the government had little patience left for Fallujah, where US Marines are awaiting orders to assault insurgents and militants.
“We will continue to probe the enemy’s defense until such time as we decide to enter and clear the city,” Marine Lt. Col. Willy Buhl told reporters near Fallujah.
“And we’ll do that when Prime Minister Allawi and President (George W.) Bush tell us it’s time to go.”
The government says Saddam Hussein loyalists and militants led by Al-Qaeda ally Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi have bases in Fallujah and Ramadi, another restive city where hospital staff said seven people were killed and 11 wounded in clashes on Sunday.
Allawi wants to crush Iraqi rebels and foreign militants in Fallujah and elsewhere before national elections in January.
It is not clear whether US and Iraqi forces will launch the offensive before today’s American presidential poll.
Violence also flared in the flash point city of Ramadi where six Iraqis were killed as nearby Fallujah braced for an all-out assault with US and Iraqi troops massing in the rebel heartlands.
Iraq has been a divisive theme on the campaign trail, with Bush defending the invasion and his handling of its aftermath against fierce criticism from Democratic challenger John Kerry.
Allawi said the government, which has demanded that the people of Fallujah hand over Zarqawi’s men, wanted to “free this town from the grip of terrorists who came from abroad”.
He said there could be no compromise with fighters loyal to Zarqawi, Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden.
In the northern city of Tikrit, 15 civilians were killed and about eight wounded when a rocket fired by insurgents hit a hotel used by southern migrant workers shortly after evening prayers on Sunday, the US military said.
Three mortar rounds hit the Sunni city of Samarra overnight and hospital officials said seven people were wounded.
Zarqawi’s militants have claimed responsibility for some of Iraq’s bloodiest suicide bombings and hostage decapitations.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appeared to have won public backing for his refusal to pull Japanese troops out of Iraq despite the weekend beheading of a Japanese hostage.
But the killing of 24-year-old backpacker Shosei Koda has re-ignited debate over whether Tokyo should extend the troops’ mission when their mandate expires in December.
Meanwhile, Iraq began yesterday registering voters and potential candidates for elections planned for January despite the relentless violence sweeping the country.
“Today voter registration is starting all over the country,” said Farid Ayar, the spokesman for Iraq’s Independent Electoral Commission. “It is going well up until now.”
Some 550 registration centers throughout Iraq have been set up in the same location or near where Iraqis are accustomed to receiving their food rations — a leftover from the UN oil-for-food program when the country was under sanctions.
