Terrorists Strike, Killing Eleven in Bomb Blasts

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The New York Sun

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Car bombers struck twice in rapid succession in the capital yesterday, killing at least 11 people, including an American soldier, as Defense Secretary Rumsfeld warned that violence may increase before the January election.


Rocket-propelled grenade explosions and machine-gun fire rocked the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, late yesterday. Residents reached by telephone said insurgents launched attacks in a half dozen parts of Ramadi, and that four huge explosions shook the center of the city last night.


Iraq’s most feared terror group – Tawhid and Jihad – claimed responsibility for the near-simultaneous car bombings, one near an east Baghdad police academy and the other outside an east Baghdad market as an American military convoy was passing by.


In a statement posted on the Web, Tawhid and Jihad, led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said the car bombings were carried out by its military wing and were “martyrdom” operations, meaning suicide attacks.


Mr. al-Zarqawi’s group also warned it would continue “to slaughter infidels” until the Americans and their Iraqi allies release all women detained in Iraq. The warning was part of a message contained in a videotape posted yesterday on the Web depicting the brutal decapitation of British hostage Kenneth Bigley.


Bigley, whose death was announced by his family Friday, was shown pleading for Prime Minister Blair to save his life moments before assailants severed his head with a knife. His body has not been found.


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