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Head Of Iraqi Governing Council Killed

17 May 2004 -- The current rotating head of the Iraqi Governing Council has been killed in car bomb attack near a U.S. checkpoint in Baghdad.

Abd al-Zahra Uthman Muhammad, also known as Izz al-Din Salim, and a number of other Iraqis were killed as their convoy waited to enter the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition in Baghdad -- known as the "Green Zone." It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack or what the motive was.

Muhammad's death was confirmed by a spokesman for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA).

"At approximately 9:15 this morning [local time], we had what we think was a suicide bomber set off his explosion about three vehicles deep into the checkpoint," Muhammad said.

Muhammad was a Shi'a member of the council and leader of the Islamic Al-Da'wah movement in the southern city of Al-Basrah. He was widely respected as a writer and editor.

He was also active in efforts to mediate an end to a military standoff in the south of the country between the U.S.-led coalition and armed supporters of radical Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Speaking to RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq last month, Muhammad said, "[The Governing Council] sent a delegation to Al-Najaf to talk with religious scholars, Mr. Muqtada al-Sadr and his office. And the first thoughts [after those meetings] regarding the solution to the crisis were then given to the top civil administrator in Iraq, [L. Paul] Bremer. And the discussion between the group [of council members] and Mr. Bremer would hopefully lead to finding a way to solve the crisis."

Muhammad is the second member of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council to be assassinated since the council was established last summer. Aquila al-Hashimi, one of three women on the 25-member body, was shot and killed by unknown gunmen in Baghdad last September.

The attack comes amid rising turmoil in Iraq as the United States prepares to transfer power to an Iraqi interim government on 30 June. It underlines the risks faced by Iraqis who are seen as being closely allied with Washington.

Iraqi Interim Foreign Minister Hoshyar al-Zebari was quoted today as saying the attack would "strengthen" Iraqis' resolve to regain sovereignty. Speaking at an economic conference in Jordan, he said Muhammad's death would not derail the 30 June handover date.

In the south of the country, the U.S.-led coalition continues to clash with al-Sadr supporters. The Italian Defense Ministry today said one of its soldiers died overnight from injuries suffered in fighting in Al-Nasiriyah. Fighting was also reported near the holy city of Karbala.

The U.S. military, in the wake of the insurgency, is apparently considering bringing in troops now stationed in South Korea. A South Korean official, Kim Sook, said the U.S. has begun talks on redeploying some of the 37,000 troops it has in South Korea. He gave no further details:

"With the worsening situation in Iraq recently, the United States' side raised the issue of the necessity of pulling out some U.S. troops from South Korea. South Korea and the United States agreed to discuss the matter," Kim said.

In the United States, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is coming under renewed pressure following allegations he approved secret interrogation tactics that eventually led to the recently uncovered abuses at Baghdad's Abu Ghurayb prison. The allegations were made by journalist Seymour Hersh in an article appearing in the 24 May edition of "The New Yorker" magazine.

In the article, Hersh quotes unnamed past and present U.S. intelligence officials as saying the tactics were developed for use in Afghanistan and other detention facilities as part of the war on terrorism. They reportedly included subjecting prisoners to sleep deprivation, periods of extreme hot and cold, and sexual humiliation as a way of weakening their resistance.

Hersh writes Rumsfeld endorsed bringing these tactics to Iraq and Abu Ghurayb as a way of stopping the anti-U.S. insurgency.

Last month, photographs depicting U.S. soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghurayb shocked and angered the world. Rumsfeld and others, including president George W. Bush, have played down the scandal, maintaining the abuse was carried out by rogue individuals and did not reflect U.S. policy.

The Pentagon has issued a strong denial of the Hersh article. It said that "assertions apparently being made in the latest 'New Yorker' article on Abu Ghurayb and the abuse of Iraqi detainees are outlandish, conspiratorial, and filled with error and anonymous conjecture."

Click here for brief biographies of all the Iraqi Governing Council members.

(AP/AFP)

Copyright (c) 2004. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org