At least 110 people were killed across Iraq on Sunday in gun battles, car bombs and bombardments. The Iraqi Health Ministry said the worst casualties were in Baghdad, where 37 were killed, and in Tal Afar near the Syrian border where 51 people died.
At least seven car bombs exploded in Baghdad, and dozens of mortar bombs and rockets landed around the so-called Green Zone compound housing Iraq's interim government and the U.S. embassy.
Witnesses and officials said 13 people died and 61 injured in fierce battles in central Baghdad.
A U.S. helicopter opened fire on a crowd milling around an abandoned armored vehicle, killing a television journalist reporting from the scene.
South of Baghdad, three Polish soldiers were killed and three injured when they were attacked near Hilla.
In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, U.S. tanks and helicopters fired on a residential district, killing 10 Iraqis, including women and children, a doctor said, according to Reuters.
In other incidents, a car bomb killed a senior police officer, another policeman and a 12-year-old boy on a highway west of Baghdad. A suspected suicide bomber tried to drive through the gates of Abu Ghraib prison but U.S. troops shot and killed him, the military said. Three people were injured.
Despite the growing violence, Iraq's interim Prime Minister was quoted Monday by the British media in he wanted elections to be held as planned in January 2005.
"We are aiming at all the country to be involved in the elections," Iyad Allawi told The Times and Guardian dailies.
"If for any reason 300,000 people cannot vote because terrorists decide so -- and this is imposing a very big if -- then frankly 300,000 people is not going to alter 24 million people voting." (albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
