Iraqi Cabinet minister accused of killings in 2005

Story Highlights

• Culture minister sought, accused of two deaths during assassination attempt
• Minister's home raided after arrest warrant issued
• Sheikh from outside Baghdad killed when gunmen attack his car

Adjust font size:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Authorities in Iraq on Tuesday raided the home of the country's Sunni culture minister, whom they accused of killing two people during an assassination attempt two years ago.

The Iraqi Judiciary Council issued a warrant for Assad al-Hashimi, who wasn't home when his central Baghdad house was raided, an action denounced by Sunni political groups.

The charges against al-Hashimi stemmed from an assassination attempt on parliamentary candidate Mithal al-Alusi on February 8, 2005.

Al-Alusi escaped unharmed, but two of his sons were killed in the incident, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told CNN.

Al-Dabbagh said two people who planned and carried out the killings confessed that they took orders from al-Hashimi. Al-Hashimi was an imam of a mosque in Baghdad at the time.

The arrest warrant was specifically issued for the killings of al-Alusi's sons, not the failed attempt against al-Alusi.

Al-Alusi was a leading figure in the secular Iraqi National Congress Party but was expelled from the party after visiting Israel.

He was elected to parliament as the head of his own group, the Iraqi Democratic National Party, which holds one seat.

Al-Hashimi said he was being targeted unfairly, The Associated Press reported.

"When they want to get rid of anybody, the easiest way for them to do that is to charge him with terrorist activities," he told the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera, according to the AP.

Al-Hashimi is a member of the General Conference of the Iraqi People party, part of the Iraqi Accord Front, the country's largest Sunni bloc.

The General Conference called the Shiite government's accusations against the culture minister "false" and said the arrest is part of an effort to marginalize Sunnis.

The Iraqi Accord Front said the detainees were coerced to make false testimony against the minister by torture and threats of rape. It said the detainees' arms were broken and their nails were pulled out.

The Front said a delegation visited Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki after Tuesday's raid.

"An order was issued to immediately release the guards who were detained and to stop all the measures taken against the minister and to form a neutral committee in order to start an investigation in this incident," the Accord Front said.

"We had enough of this and ... we hope that they correct this major mistake and to at least offer an initial apology and avoid repeating such an incident in the future."

This is the first time an Iraqi Cabinet minister has faced arrest, the AP reported, although other senior officials have been arrested, including a deputy health minister.

Sheikh dies in gunmen's ambush

Meanwhile, gunmen in southwestern Baghdad on Tuesday shot and killed Sheikh Hamid al-Shujairi, a Sunni Arab tribal leader from the Wasit province city of Suwayra, about 40 miles southeast of Baghdad, according to the Interior Ministry.

Gunmen intercepted the sheikh's car and sprayed him with bullets, the ministry said.

Another member of the same tribe, Akram al-Shujairi, told the AP the sheikh had attended a conference several weeks ago on supporting the government and fighting al Qaeda.

The shooting came a day after a suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside the Mansour Hotel in central Baghdad. (Full story)

That blast killed at least 12 people, most of them Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders who were meeting as part of Iraq's reconciliation effort. (Watch scenes of the hotel damage )

The Islamic State of Iraq, an insurgent coalition that includes al Qaeda in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the bombing in a statement posted on various Islamist Web sites.

The group said it carried out the attack in retaliation for an assault, according to the Web posting. The authenticity of the statement cannot be confirmed by CNN.

Other developments

A U.S. Marine died during combat operations in Anbar province Tuesday, a military statement released Wednesday said. Since the start of the war, 3,560 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq. Seven military contractors working for the Pentagon also have been killed in the conflict.

A U.N. agency and the Iraqi government "have concluded an agreement" on rebuilding Al-Askariya Mosque, the revered Shiite shrine bombed last year and earlier this month, the United Nations said Tuesday. The project will start "as soon as security conditions are guaranteed and will continue over a period of 10 months," the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said. The United Nations said Iraq "is expected to provide $3 million of the $8.4 million project, with the rest coming from the U.N. Development Group Iraq Trust Fund."

Police in Baghdad found 21 bodies across the capital Tuesday, Iraq's Interior Ministry said. This brings the number of corpses dumped this month alone in Iraq's capital to 504. Police believe the deaths are the result of sectarian violence.

Gunmen shot and killed a top Baghdad University official Tuesday, the Interior Ministry told CNN. Nihad Mohammed al-Rawi, the deputy dean of Baghdad University, was being driven home from work when gunmen intercepted his car and shot him. A university security officer told CNN al-Rawi's death is a great loss, describing the academic as a true nationalist and a great man.

An Iranian state-run news agency reported Tuesday that Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president, arrived Tuesday night in Tehran to "confer with Iranian officials on ways of expanding bilateral ties." IRNA reported Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was to "accord formal welcome to Talabani at the president's office."

CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

Tools:
Save |
Print |
E-mail |
Most Popular |

Next story in World

World

Crews forge progress against California fires

Authorities overseeing the battle against hundreds of wildfires in California had a mixed assessment as the weather forecast for Sunday stirred both hope an ...