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Articles: Bombs rock Baghdad

Posted by admin on Thursday, December 28, 2006 - 03:37 PM

28/12/2006 14:33 - (SA)

Baghdad - An Iraqi court published its formal written condemnation of Saddam Hussein on Thursday, putting in motion the legal machinery which will lead to his execution, as bombs rocked Baghdad.

The confirmation of the ousted dictator's death sentence came as his foe US President George W Bush convened a meeting of his top security advisers to find a way to stem the rising tide of bloodshed in Iraq. More than three-and-a-half years after a US-led invasion deposed Saddam's totalitarian regime, the country remains in the grip of a vicious conflict that claims more than 100 Iraqi lives per day. American soldiers are also still dying in near record numbers; the military confirmed the deaths of three more on Thursday, bringing December's toll to 99, and keeping it on course to be the bloodiest month for US troops this year. Saddam's imminent demise - on December 26 a court ordered his execution within 30 days - has been welcomed by Washington, but US forces are nevertheless braced for a backlash from his remaining supporters. Meanwhile, sectarian and insurgent violence continues to claim scores of lives every day and make a mockery of promises by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government to put in place a new Baghdad security plan. Bomb exploded among crowd Seven people were killed and 25 wounded when two booby traps exploded in a popular Baghdad market during the busy morning shopping rush, military officials and medics at the Al-Kindi hospital said. The devices exploded in the Baab al-Sharki neighbourhood in the centre of the Iraqi capital, they said. Another 10 people were killed and 35 wounded in east Baghdad near the Shaab stadium when a bomb exploded among a crowd queuing for heating fuel, according to a security official and medics at the Ibn-Nafis hospital. South of the capital, three more civilians were killed in two bomb attacks, according to the defence ministry and the Yarmuk hospital. Meanwhile, north of Baghdad, two Iraqi soldiers were killed when a booby trap exploded on the highway between the oil refinery depot of Baiji and Saddam's hometown Tikrit, said the local Iraqi-US coordination centre. Another three soldiers were wounded in the explosion, which destroyed an Iraqi military vehicle, the source said. In Diyala province north of the capital, a police captain and two civilian women were killed by unidentified gunmen in separate attacks, said Lieutenant Ali Khaled of the Baquba police. The violence raged on as the Iraqi High Tribunal published a formal written judgment rejecting Saddam's appeal against his death sentence.

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