BAGHDAD, 1 December 2005 — Eight Iraqis were killed yesterday when a group of gunmen attacked a minibus carrying construction workers east of Baghdad, police said. Two others were wounded in the attack, which occurred in Abi Sayda, a town northeast of Baquba, 65 kilometers east of the Iraqi capital.
In Mussayab, 60 kilometers south of Baghdad, four Iraqis were killed, two of them schoolboys, when a mortar shell fell near the gates of a primary school in the city center.
In Kerbala, south of Baghdad, a car bomb detonated by remote control exploded while a US military convoy was passing nearby. Police said a number of vehicles were damaged, but declined to say whether there were US casualties.
Meanwhile there was no trace of kidnapped German archaeologist Susanne Osthoff as the Interior Ministry instructed security forces to follow up every lead in the case, a spokesman in Baghdad said Wednesday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany would not be blackmailed by the kidnappers. The fate of British Iraq war opponent Norman Kember, who was kidnapped Saturday along with two Canadians and an American, also remained uncertain.
Kember’s family told British broadcaster BBC yesterday that the 74-year-old was a “man of peace” who had “spent his life promoting peace.”
Meanwhile, US Sen. Hillary Clinton has joined a chorus of Democratic lawmakers calling for US troop reductions in Iraq beginning next year, but linked a withdrawal to the success of upcoming elections there.
Hillary, in a letter e-mailed Tuesday to thousands of constituents she represents in New York state, said a withdrawal hinges on next month’s national vote in Iraq.
“I believe we are at a critical point with the Dec. 15 elections that should, if successful, allow us to start bringing home our troops in the coming year, while leaving behind a smaller contingent in safer areas with greater intelligence and quick strike capabilities,” wrote Hillary.
