Car bomb targets US convoy in Iraq

At least 13 people have been reported killed in attacks in Iraq including a car bomb that exploded near a US milltary convoy in Baghdad.

An Iraqi police colonel was shot dead in east Baghdad

Police said five people were shot dead early on Tuesday when attackers opened fire as the victims left a city hospital where they had been to see the body of a Sunni cleric who was killed on Monday night.

Late on Monday, Shaikh Akil al-Mahadidi, a cleric from al-Muhajirin mosque, and his brother were shot dead in the west of Baghdad.
  
An Iraqi police colonel was killed in a drive-by shooting, and two employees of the Finance Ministry were shot dead on their way to work in Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said.
  
Colonel Mizher Hamad Yussef was leaving home for work when he was shot by a machine gun from a passing car in east Baghdad.
  
In another incident, a civilian was killed and five wounded, four of them police officers, when a car bomber attacked a police patrol in the centre of Baquba, 60km northeast of Baghdad, police said.

Also in Baghdad, at least four people were killed and 24 wounded when a car bomber blew himself up close to a US military convoy, medics said.
  
“We have received four bodies and 24 other people who are wounded from the car bomb,” said a doctor at Ibn-al-Nafis hospital.

US casualties
  
One US Humvee was set ablaze and 14 other vehicles were damaged by the blast, which occurred at around 1pm (0900 GMT), an AFP correspondent reported. 
 
A thick column of smoke was visible from the site of the explosion.

A number of US soldiers and civilians were also reported wounded when a US tank veered off the road after an explosive device targeting it blew up in the al-Adl neighbourhood in west Baghdad.

Iraqi police in al-Ramadi also said a number of US soldiers were wounded when a car bomb hit a US patrol in Hyit, west of Baghdad.

The US forces in Haditha have sealed off the town’s gates after clashes erupted with armed men at night. It was not confirmed if the clashes resulted in casualties on either side.

Saddam trial

Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein’s chief attorney said on Tuesday that his legal team was boycotting proceedings until a man they said attacked the former Iraqi president at a hearing was brought to justice and the court apologised. 
    

Saddam Hussein's lawyers say hewas attacked in court
Saddam Hussein’s lawyers say hewas attacked in court

Saddam Hussein’s lawyers say he
was attacked in court

“As Saddam Hussein’s lawyer and on behalf of all the defence team, we announce the boycott of the Iraqi Special Tribunal until they make a formal apology for the incident and the person who committed that disgraceful act is brought to justice,” Khalil al-Dulaimi said in an interview.
   
US forces guarding Saddam had denied any such attack took place.
   
Al-Dulaimi, the only lawyer for Saddam present in the room at the time of the hearing, said a man named Tahseen, who he believed was a reserve investigative judge, grabbed Saddam’s arm and tried to attack him.
   
People in the courtroom intervened and broke it up, he said.

The incident took place at a hearing last Thursday.
   
After the incident was first reported on Friday, the US military, which is in charge of Saddam’s physical custody, said no such scuffle had taken place.

The tribunal also issued a statement denying any incident.
   
Al-Dulaimi reiterated Saddam’s view that the tribunal had no legitimacy because it was created by the Americans. 

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies