At least 112 people killed across Iraq
(AP)Updated: 2006-11-20 08:40
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Syria's foreign minister called Sunday for a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces to help end Iraq's sectarian bloodbath, in a groundbreaking diplomatic mission to Iraq that comes amid increasing calls for the US to seek cooperation from Syria and Iran. At least 112 people were killed nationwide, following a week that had already seen hundreds of deaths.
 Residents and soldiers react following an explosion in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006. A roadside bomb and two car bombs exploded one after another near a bus station in southeastern Baghdad, killing eight civilians and wounding 43, police said. [AP]  |
Syria and Iraq share a long and porous desert border and both Baghdad and Washington have accused Damascus of not doing enough to stop the flow of foreign Arab fighters.
Moallem spoke at the end of a day that saw suspected Sunni Muslim bombers kill at least 33 Shi'ites and the kidnapping of a deputy health minister - believed the senior-most government official abducted in Iraq. Many Sunni attackers are believed to have infiltrated from Syria.
A suicide bomber in the predominantly Shi'ite city of Hillah south of Baghdad lured men to his KIA minivan with promises of a day's work as laborers, then blew it up, killing at least 22 and wounding 44, police said.
Babil province police Capt. Muthana Khalid said three suspected terrorists, two Egyptians and an Iraqi, were arrested on suspicion of planning the suicide attack with the bomber, a Syrian.
Within hours, a roadside bomb and two car bombs exploded one after another near a bus station in Mashtal, a mostly Shi'ite area of southeastern Baghdad, killing 11 and wounding 51, police said.
Besides the victims of the bombings in Hillah and Baghdad, at least 23 other people were killed nationwide. In addition, the bodies of 56 murder victims, many of them tortured, were dumped in three Iraqi cities, 45 of them in Baghdad alone.
Also Sunday, gunmen kidnapped Iraq's deputy health minister from his home in northern Baghdad, the Iraqi army and police reported. They said the gunmen wore police uniforms and arrived in seven vehicles to abduct Ammar al-Saffar, a Shi'ite.
Al-Saffar was snatched nearly a week after dozens of suspected Shi'ite
militia gunmen in police uniforms kidnapped scores of people from a Ministry of
Higher Education office in Baghdad. That ministry is predominantly Sunni.
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