Al Qaeda vows war on Shiites

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber killed 15 police commandos in Baghdad yesterday, as al Qaeda in Iraq "declared war" on the Shiite Muslim population of Iraq.

The latest attack came in the southern district of Doura of Baghdad, a day after several blasts killed more than 150 in the city.

Iraq's al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi declared war on Shiite Muslims in an internet message in response to a US-Iraqi offensive on the rebel town of Tal Afar.

"As for the Government, servants of the crusaders headed by [Iraqi Prime Minister] Ibrahim Jaafari, they have declared a war on Sunnis in Tal Afar. You have started the attacks and you won't see mercy from us," Zarqawi said.

The Jordanian-born militant said Shiites and US forces were collaborating against Sunnis and described the offensive in Tal Afar as an "organised sectarian war".

"Days pass and battles are numbered and the goal is one: the crusader-Shiite war against Sunnis. Zarqawi also warned Iraqis and tribal leaders they would be killed if they collaborated with US forces.

"Whoever is a member of the National Guard, Army or a spy will be killed and his house demolished.

"We warn tribal leaders if it is confirmed that they are implicated with crusaders and apostates, they will be targeted," he said.

On Wednesday, bombs exploded across Baghdad all day. In one explosion, 114 people were killed and 156 wounded when hundreds of Shiite labourers were lured to a van bomb with promises of work.

That was the second deadliest single attack since the US-led invasion of Iraq.

The blast dealt another blow to the US-backed Government, which has vowed to crush a raging insurgency with military offensives such as in Tal Afar in the north.
Iraq says nearly 160 insurgents have been killed in the offensive that began on Saturday. Both Baghdad and Washington say Tal Afar is a staging post for foreign fighters entering Iraq from Syria.

A major US-led offensive in November that captured the guerrilla bastion of Falluja was designed to break the backbone of the insurgency. But the violence keeps raging.

The suicide bomber yesterday rammed a car into a convoy of police commandos, elite units in the battle against insurgents.

Sharp metal shrapnel scattered along a street and smoke was rising from one home near the blast site. Charred bodies were covered with a white sheet near a burned-out bus.

In a typical rundown of violence, three bodies of people who were shot dead were found in the Shula district of Baghdad yesterday police said. Three others were discovered in the New Baghdad district.

Gunmen also killed three Shiite pilgrims heading to the southern city of Karbala for a religious event.

In the northern town of Kirkuk, two policemen were killed and four were injured when a roadside bomb hit their patrol, police said.

Iraq's Shiite and Kurdish leaders, swept to power in January elections boycotted by Sunnis, face rising tensions in the run-up to an October 15 referendum on the constitution.

The Government has accused Sunnis of attacking Shiites to undermine the process and spark civil war. While this had not been stated ambition of al Qaeda before, the latest statement stands as testament to the group's aims.

- REUTERS