Iraq analysis

[Al-khiyal]

BAGHDAD - Five of the 29 people seized in a daylight raid on a Baghdad club where the Iraqi Olympic Committee was holding a meeting were freed early Sunday, the office manager of the committee said.

Those freed included Nashat Maher, former head of military sports and now an advisor to the committee, office manager Mohammed al-Habash told AFP.

Maher was kidnapped Saturday by dozens of gunmen dressed in military uniforms along with eight other committee members, a bodyguard and 20 security guards.

“He (Maher) was found lying by the side of the road, blindfolded, in an eastern district of the capital,” Habash said.

A driver and three other guards were also subsequently released, he said.

None of those released gave any details about their captors or where they had been held.

There have been no demands from the kidnappers.

The raid took place in the normally well-protected Shiite middle class neighbourhood of Karrada, prompting speculation of official involvement, although the interior minister denied police had anything to do with it.

The committee’s president, Ahmed al-Hejea, was also among those taken in the raid, as were a number of other prominent sports officials. Two guards were killed and four wounded in the raid.

Five hostages seized from Baghdad sports club freed

[Al-khiyal]

Iraq PM denounces Israel over Lebanon, Gaza

[Al-khiyal]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Sometimes George says he drives a cab. Other times he passes himself off as an Agriculture Ministry employee. He feels that anything is safer than the truth, that he's a translator for the U.S. military.

The 33-year-old Iraqi is among thousands who resort to disguises and subterfuges, who endure white-knuckle commutes through potentially lethal roadblocks, just to make a living.

George is the name he got from his American employer. To reveal his real one could be his death.

"It's bad to lie to people, but the situation is very bad," he says. "I don't want to lose my head."

His wife has tried to persuade him to quit, but he stays on the job because he feels his work — helping the Americans to avoid language misunderstandings — is important. Besides, his salary of $900 to $1,050 is about 10 times the monthly average.

For the young woman who calls herself Ismaeel, her father's name, even a minor inconvenience can be a big one. Like the time the helicopter flying her back to Baghdad from an out-of-town job was late. Her family thought she worked for an Internet cafe. How would she explain the delay?

"It's not a normal life," she said. "It's a very hard situation we suffer from. I hope it will pass and everything will be fine. We'll see."

Being a Sunni Arab living in northern Baghdad, she could be a target of Shiites, the rival Muslim group, or fellow Sunnis who would see her as a traitor because she works for the U.S. military.

She varies her commute to make sure she isn't followed to the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses the U.S. and British embassies and the Iraqi government offices. To avoid drawing attention, she wears a head scarf and cumbersome cloak.

In her office, she switches to jeans.

"You face a lot of people every day and you don't know who's your enemy," she said. "You can't trust anyone. It's hard to start a relationship with anybody these days. You depend on your old friends."

Ismaeel, who keeps her full name secret, worked as an administrative assistant at the Industry Ministry during Saddam Hussein's regime. She said she let her mother and two siblings in on the secret of her new job, but not her father because he tends to gossip.

When the helicopter was late, she told him she had to take her brother to the dentist, then asked not to be sent on any more out-of-town missions.

About two years ago her colleague, an ambitious young woman who despite many warnings refused to hide her long, dark hair or take other precautions, was shot to death by insurgents who followed her to work.

"They were watching her. They threatened her," Ismaeel said. "She didn't listen. She challenged the situation."

Iraqis have grown used to car bombs at markets, mosques and restaurants, and gunmen who set up fake checkpoints to stage abductions for money or politics. Many Iraqis carry fake IDs to hide their religious affiliation.

Journalists, whose jobs are harder to keep secret, are particularly vulnerable. Of the 74 journalists killed in Iraq since the war started in March 2003, at least 53 were Iraqi, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

One 40-year-old journalist said she stopped using her byline on stories because her newspaper is often accused of publishing American propaganda. She asked to be identified only as Um-Mustafa, or mother of Mustafa.

"I'm proud of what I'm doing, but I feel that I have to work secretly," she said.

"I know a lot of people in this situation, especially female journalists," she said. "A lot of friends have stopped working and are staying at home now."

She said she coaches her children, ages 8 to 13, not to talk about her job at school.

"I was not threatened personally," she said, but her enemies "usually have agents and eyes everywhere, and you can't trust anybody."

Western-employed Iraqis risk all for work

[Al-khiyal]

BAGHDAD - Four people were killed and 10 wounded when two mortar rounds landed on al-Rasool village 30 km northeast of Baghdad, police said.

KIRKUK - A gunman was killed and two wounded in clashes with Iraqi police and U.S. soldiers in Kirkuk in northern Iraq. The gunbattle erupted after the gunmen ambushed an army major in his car, wounding him, police said.

BAQUBA - Gunmen attacked the medical detention department in Baquba main hospital and freed at least 13 prisoners and killed four policemen, police said. Three mortar rounds landed around the hospital before the attack, police added.

NEAR TIKRIT - Gunmen killed three people near Tikrit, 175 km north of Baghdad, police said.

BALAD - Two bodies were found shot dead with signs of torture in two separate incidents in Balad, 80 km north of Baghdad, on Saturday and Sunday, police said.

MUQDADIYA - Gunmen killed Faris Abdul Latif, a former member of the ousted Baath Party, along with his son in a market in Muqdadiya, 100 km northeast of Baghdad, police said. A woman passerby was also killed in the attack.

MOSUL - The bodies of three women with gunshot wounds were found in the northern city of Mosul, a medical source said.

DIWANIYA - The body of a police officer was found in Diwaniya, 180 km south of Baghdad, police said. He was one of four policeman abducted on Saturday, police added.

NEAR KIRKUK - Gunmen killed two truck drivers and abducted a third on the main road between Baghdad and Kirkuk, police said.

ZUBAIR - Two British soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in Zubair, a town south of Basra, British military spokesman said.

BAGHDAD - Two people were killed and 30 wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near a gathering of labourers in southeastern Baghdad, police said. The target of the explosion was not clear.

KIRKUK - Gunmen killed two barbers on Saturday in Kirkuk, 250 km north of Baghdad, police said.

KIRKUK - The body of a dead person was found shot dead with signs of torture on Saturday in Kirkuk, police said.

MOSUL - The bodies of three people were found shot dead on Saturday in Mosul, 390 km north of Baghdad, police said.

[Al-khiyal]

In Baghdad, a bomb hidden in a trash bag exploded in a commercial area of the Karradah district, killing four people and wounding 21 others, police said.

One person was killed and two were wounded when a bomb exploded near a police patrol in north Baghdad, police said.

[Al-khiyal]

Kirkuk. At least 13 people were killed and 25 injured in a suicide attack outside a café in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, AFP reported, citing a statement of Iraq’s police.

At least 13 killed in suicide attack in Kirkuk

Update

The location of the attack and death toll as cited above is incorrect:

"The suicide attack occurred about 8:30 p.m. in the outdoor market in Tuz Khormato, a mostly Turkomen city 130 miles north of Baghdad, Maj. Gen. Anwar Mohammed Amin said.

The powerful blast collapsed the ceiling of the one-story cafe, burying many of the victims, witnesses said. Hours afterward, rescuers were still sifting through the debris looking for the dead or injured. Authorities used mosque loudspeakers to appeal for blood donations.

One of Iraq's main ethnic groups, Turkomen follow both the Sunni and Shiite traditions of Islam. Amin said Shiites favored the cafe because it was near a Shiite mosque. But friction exists among Iraq's Turkomen and Kurdish populations, and the motive for the attack was unclear."

26 killed in Iraq café bombing

[Al-khiyal]

Senior Iraqi oil ministry official kidnapped in Baghdad