BAGHDAD, 18 December 2004 — Violence in Iraq showed no sign of abating yesterday as at least four people were murdered after being dragged from their car, with the country bracing itself for more attacks ahead of January’s historic elections. The brazen daylight assault came as the US military said it would allow some residents to return to Fallujah, nearly six weeks after an offensive was launched to rid the city west of Baghdad of rebels and despite continued clashes in some districts.
And with trials of members of Saddam Hussein’s regime set to begin, a human rights group slammed the tribunal as flawed.
In the northern city of Mosul, a white American-made sedan was driving through a violent western district when it was attacked by assault rifle fire, witnesses said. Afterward the vehicle was set ablaze and a small crowd gathered around the burning wreckage.
A photographer saw four bodies lying on the street, three of them apparently foreigners. Witnesses said one of the men appeared to be Turkish and two others looked European. One of them had been beheaded.
The identities of the victims was not clear, but the witnesses said they were carrying small automatic weapons.
In Ankara, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said several Turkish Embassy guards, on their way to the Iraqi capital, were killed yesterday in an armed attack on a road in Mosul. “According to information obtained by our embassy in Baghdad, there have been casualties in the incident ... We are very upset that some personnel were killed,” a statement said.
One of the guards and a driver survived the attack and returned to Turkey, while two other guards made it safely to the embassy in Baghdad, the ministry said.
Mosul, near the border with Turkey, has seen a surge in violence since shortly after US forces launched their offensive against Fallujah on Nov. 8.
Three people were killed in a missile attack on a Kirkuk camp for Kurdish returnees in what appeared to be a deliberate attempt to stoke communal tensions in Iraq’s northern oil capital ahead of next month’s elections.
In Fallujah, the mayor said families would start returning to some southern neighborhoods as early as yesterday, although there was still no sign of movement by the late afternoon. US forces shelled some northern districts as clashes continued.
“US forces will allow families to return to the Andalous area starting today under a 10-day timetable,” Mahmoud Ibrahim said, referring to a neighborhood in the southwest.
More than 200,000 people who fled the city have yet to go home and many are in need of aid as night temperatures in Iraq sink toward freezing. US forces have so far prevented refugees returning, saying basic facilities must be restored first.
US and Iraqi authorities are hoping to get Fallujah back on its feet before the election next month. Campaigning got under way earlier this week and more than 100 parties, coalitions and individual candidates have signed up to compete.
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced the day before campaigning began that trials against some of the former regime’s most-hated men would begin soon.
The move, seen by some as a pitch for popularity ahead of the election, will see at least two Saddam aides, including Ali Hassan Al-Majid, better known as “Chemical Ali”, appear in court soon, an official familiar with the process said. As well as Majid, Gen. Sultan Hashim Ahmad, Iraq’s former defense minister who surrendered to US forces in September 2003, is expected to appear before a judge, the official said.
But experts have raised questions about the rush to bring Saddam and his 11 top lieutenants to trial, saying the Iraqi Special Tribunal set up to try them is not ready for it.
New York-based group Human Rights Watch described the tribunal as having “serious human rights shortcomings” and lacking “fair-trial protections”.
“Trying former Iraqi officials under the current rules could mean a wasted opportunity to put Saddam and his henchmen on trial in a manner that has credibility in the eyes of the world,” the organization said.
