25 Killed In Iraq Mosque Bombing

[David]

AP


A bomb exploded at the entrance of a Shiite Muslim mosque south of Baghdad as worshippers gathered for prayers ahead of the breaking of the fast on the first day of Ramadan, killing at least 25 people and wounding 87, police and hospital officials said.

Meanwhile, President Bush vowed to prevent insurgents in Iraq from disrupting next week's vote on a new constitution. After a briefing from top U.S. commanders, the president said the goal of terrorists is to "stop the progress of democracy."

The explosion hit the Ibn al-Nama mosque in Hillah, a Shiite town that has been the scene of frequent deadly insurgent attacks.

Police were trying to determine whether Wednesday's blast was caused by a car packed with explosives or a bomb left at the scene, said police spokesman Capt. Muthanna Khaled Ali.

In other developments:


A suicide car bomb exploded near a U.S. military convoy in Baghdad on Thursday, killing one Iraqi bystander and wounding four others, police said.
No American casualties were immediately reported.


Britain believes Iran's Revolutionary Guard is supplying explosive technology that is killing British soldiers in Iraq, including eight who died in separate bombings over the summer, a senior British government official said Wednesday. Tehran rejected the allegation.


U.S. troops pushed through streets sown with bombs Tuesday in their biggest operation this year in western Iraq, seeking to retake three Euphrates River towns from al Qaeda insurgents. At least five U.S. service members have been killed in the fighting. Some 2,500 U.S. troops along with Iraqi forces launched their operation with a powerful air assault on Haditha, Haqlaniyah and Parwana, about 140 miles northwest of Baghdad.


An earlier U.S. offensive began Saturday, 93 miles upriver by the Syrian border, and continued Tuesday in the towns of Sadah, Karabilah and Rumana. A bomb killed a Marine in Karabilah, the first casualty of that operation.


In Baghdad, Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. helicopters fought about 40 gunmen house-to-house Tuesday in south Baghdad. More than three dozen insurgents were killed, wounded or detained, the U.S. military said. Three Iraqi soldiers were injured.


A suicide car bomb exploded at the main entrance to the heavily fortified Green Zone, a district of Iraqi government buildings and the U.S. and British embassies. The blast killed at least two policemen.


The leader of an extremist Islamic group that threatened to use chemical weapons against U.S. positions and the Iraqi government has also been killed in Iraq, according to an Internet statement posted Tuesday. Al-Haj Othman, the emir of the Mujahedeen of the Victorious Sect Brigades, was killed in fighting, said the statement. It did not provide any other details.

Mr. Bush said this week's coalition offensive in western Iraq shows Iraqi forces are increasingly able to take "the fight to the enemy."

He spoke on the eve of what the White House is billing as a "major" speech on the war on terror ? in which he'll maintain that driving America out of Iraq is a key enemy goal. Mr. Bush said U.S. troops must stay as long as they're needed.

However, on Capitol Hill, Senate Democrats attacked the administration's strategy. In a letter to Mr. Bush, they warned staying on the same path "could lead to full-blown civil war."

Earlier Wednesday, Iraq's National Assembly voted to reverse last-minute changes it had made to rules for next week's referendum on a new constitution. The United Nations had criticized the change as unfair to Iraq's Sunni Arab minority, which had threatened to boycott the vote.

After a brief debate, the Assembly voted 119 to 28 to restore the original voting rules for the referendum, which will take place Oct. 15. Only about half of the 275-member legislative body turned up for the vote.

Washington hopes a majority "yes" vote in the referendum will unite Iraq's disparate factions and erode support for the country's bloody insurgency, paving the way to eventually begin withdrawing foreign troops.

Many Sunnis oppose the charter and want it rewritten, believing it would divide Iraq and leave Shiites in the south and Kurds in the north with virtual autonomy and control over Iraq's oil wealth, while isolating Sunnis with little power or revenue in central and western areas.

The original rules, now restored, mean that Sunnis can veto the constitution by getting a two-thirds "no" vote in three provinces, even if the charter wins majority approval nationwide. Sunnis have a sufficient majority in four of Iraq's 18 provinces.