Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=9/26/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ/FRIDAY (L)

NUMBER=2-307939

BYLINE=MICHAEL DRUDGE

DATELINE=BAGHDAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The U-S military in Iraq says a mortar shell has hit a crowded market north of Baghdad, killing eight civilians and wounding 18 others. Meanwhile, the country declared three days of mourning for a Governing Council member killed by assassins. V-O-A Correspondent Michael Drudge has more from Baghdad.

TEXT: The mortar shell landed in the middle of the market in Baqubah (pron: bah-COO-bah) at about nine o'clock Thursday night. The source of the shell is not known, but the U-S Army says it did not come from their forces.

A U-S military spokesman says soldiers of the Fourth Infantry Division gave emergency first aid treatment to the most severely wounded civilians.

Baqubah is about 50 kilometers northeast of Baghdad in what is called the Sunni triangle, a region of central Iraq where there have been frequent guerrilla-style attacks against U-S soldiers.

Meanwhile, a funeral cortege took the body of assassinated Governing Council member Akila al-Hashimi from her Baghdad home for burial in the Shia holy city of Najaf.

Ms. al-Hashimi died Thursday in a U-S military hospital in Baghdad from gunshot wounds she sustained when unidentified gunmen ambushed her car last Saturday. She was one of three women on the 25-member Governing Council.

The Council has declared three days of mourning for the career diplomat, who had planned to be Iraq's ambassador at the United Nations.

In another development, the United Nations has decided to further reduce its international staff in Iraq, following a second car bombing this week at its Baghdad headquarters. Monday's blast killed the bomber and an Iraqi policeman, and wounded nearly 20 other people.

The United Nations had about 600 foreign staff in Iraq on August 22nd when a suicide truck bombing at its office killed 22 people. It currently has about 85 international employees remaining in Iraq, but many of them plan to leave in a few days. Iraqi staff members will remain to run the scaled-back U-N agencies. (SIGNED).

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