Press Interpreter

06/10/05 -- Today, Friday, the American military announced the killing of five members of the marine infantry (marines) in an explosion in western Iraq.

The American forces explained that the five marines met their deaths yesterday, Thursday, in combat in Haqlaaniyya.

In other news today, the American military opened a criminal investigation into an explosion in which two soldiers were killed at a base near the city of Tikrit north of Baghdad following the discovery that their deaths had not been caused by a mortar shell attack.

And on the Iraqi side, the Iraqi police announced today that armed men killed the director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, lieutenant colonel RaHiim ’uthmaan, and his assistant Ghaanim Jabbaar in Kirkuk in northern Iraq. The chief of police stated that armed men riding in a car fired on the lieutenant colonel’s car, in which he was riding with his assistant.

The chief of police of Kirkuk, major general Turhaan Yuusef, stated that he had escaped an attempted assassination in which he was targeted by an unidentified shooter. He indicated that his car had suffered damage.

And in Basra, 550 km north of Baghdad, a source in the police stated that armed men killed colonel ’abdu-l-Kariim ad-Daraajii and his brother QuSay in the middle of the city. Witnesses reported that the victims were wearing civilian clothing when four armed men stopped in front of their car, which was unmarked, and fired on them.

Bodies and Casualties

In a series of kidnappings and disappearances, 17 bodies were discovered in a small village 30km east of the city of al-Qaa’im on the Syrian border, eleven of whom had been killed by bullet wounds to the head. Some had shaven heads. Murder victims were found blindfolded and with their hands bound. It is not clear when they were killed.

The Iraqi Interior Ministry reported the discovery yesterday (Thursday) of six other bodies outside the village of FasfaaT, near al-Qa’iim, also dressed in civilian clothing and in possession of civilian identification.

It was not immediately clear whether the murder victims, whose bodies were discovered in two different places, were government soldiers or civilians. Likewise, it is unclear whether the 17 bodies had any connection to a group of 20 Iraqi soldiers who were lost in the region of al-Qaa’im last Tuesday evening.

The organization Qaa‘idat al-Jihaad fii Bilaad ar-Raafidayn* announced in a posting on the internet yesterday that they had taken 36 Iraqi soldiers hostage, and not 22 as the police had stated. The organization demanded the release of all female Iraqi prisoners within 24 hours.

At the present time, lightening security operations are underway in Baghdad and surrounding areas, and the American military has announced that it has now apprehended 1000 individuals in ongoing raids.

Call for Moderation

In the political arena, Sheikh Sadr al-Diin al-Qubanji, member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, called on the Sunnis to temper with “moderation� their demand that they be represented by 25 delegates in the committee that will draft the constitution.

[Remaining text untranslated]

*The Jihad’s Base in the Land of the Two Rivers

--Translated by Greg Key

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http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E56084F2-0F85-452E-B704-670DED545607.htm