Waiting for gasoline in Iraq

[ProSense]

Iraq official escapes roadside bomb

By ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 52 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's interior minister narrowly escaped a roadside bomb blast Wednesday in a mainly Sunni part of the capital that U.S. officials had said had been virtually cleared of death squad cells.

Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani, a Shiite, was traveling in an armored car in a convoy of about 10 vehicles when the bomb exploded in the Dora neighborhood. The blast killed two bystanders, including a 12-year-old, and wounded five traffic policemen, said Dora police officer Mohammad al Baghdadi.

It was not clear if he was the intended target or whether the bomb had been meant for a U.S. military convoy that was about 500 yards behind.

Al-Bolani is a senior member of Iraq's new unity government, which is struggling to put down a Sunni insurgency and sectarian fighting between Shiite and Sunni extremists in Baghdad.

Dora had become a hotbed of militancy and sectarian violence, particularly after a Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite mosque in the town of Samarra, north of Baghdad, that stoked fears of a civil war in Iraq.

Snip...

Political and sectarian violence across Iraq last month claimed 3,500 lives, making July the deadliest month since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.

more....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060823/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_060820190633

[rzemanfl]

1. Doesn't it strike you as odd that there never seems to be a

shortage of cigarettes in Iraq or Gaza?