Head of Governing Council killed in Baghdad bombing

The head of Iraq's Governing Council was killed today in a car bombing near a US checkpoint in central Baghdad.

The head of Iraq's Governing Council was killed today in a suicide car bombing near a US checkpoint in central Baghdad - a major blow to coalition efforts to stabilize Iraq ahead of a handover of sovereignty on 30 June.

Abdel-Zahraa Othman, also known as Izzadine Saleem, was the second and highest-ranking member of the US-appointed council assassinated so far. He was among four Iraqis killed in the blast, according to Redha Jawad Taki, a member of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a Shiite Muslim organization.

"Days like today convince us even more so that the transfer must stay on track," said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt.

Kimmitt said that terrorist groups were trying to derail the democratization process in Iraq and that a suicide bomber was responsible for the attack.

As the current council president, a rotating position, Saleem was the highest-ranking Iraqi official killed during the US-run occupation. His death occurred about six weeks before the United States plans to transfer power to Iraqis and underscores the risks facing those perceived as owing their positions to the Americans.

The British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, said Saleem's death should not deter the transfer of power.

"What this shows is that the terrorists and insurgents in Iraq are trying to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power from the occupiers to the Iraqi people, and these terrorists are enemies of the Iraqi people themselves," Straw said in Brussels, Belgium upon arrival at a European Union foreign ministers meeting. The ministers planned to discuss the latest developments in Iraq.

Saleem, the name he went by most frequently, was a Shiite and a leader of the Islamic Dawa Movement in the southern city of Basra. He was a writer, philosopher and political activist, who served as editor of several newspapers and magazines. The position of council head rotates monthly.

Governing Council members condemned the killing. One member, Salama al-Khafaji, said the bombing appeared to be an effort to foment sectarian divisions in Iraq and disrupt the transfer of political power.

Another member, Naseer Kamel al-Chaderchi, blamed the bombing on the same groups that have conducted other attacks, including a bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad last year that killed 22 people, including U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Southern Shuneh, Jordan, Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar Zibari, said the killing of Saleem shows that council members "are the prime targets of these terrorist attacks and those anti-democratic forces who want to deviate this process. And we will not be intimidated and we will continue the path of a new Iraq."

A doctor at Yarmouk Hospital Dr. Zaid Hillil says five people died in the blast, with one apparently the suicide bomber.

Six Iraqis and two US soldiers were injured in the bombing near the coalition headquarters, which is called the Green Zone, Kimmitt said. Three cars waiting in line at the headquarters were destroyed.

Smoke rose from the site of the blast on the west side of the Tigris River. Firefighters and about 10 ambulances raced to the scene.

Kimmitt said the bomb might have consisted of a couple of artillery rounds placed in the back of the vehicle, possibly in the trunk.

Saleem was in a convoy of five vehicles, and the car carrying the bomb was adjacent to the council chief's car when it exploded, said witness Mohammed Laith. Hospital officials said Saleem's driver and assistant were among those killed.

Saleem was the second member of the Governing Council to be assassinated since the group was established last July.

Aquila al-Hashimi, one of three women on the 25-member body, was mortally wounded Sept. 20 when gunmen in a pickup truck ambushed her car as she drove near her Baghdad home. She died five days later.

Meanwhile, fighting persisted the Shiite heartland in southern Iraq, where American jets bombed militia positions in the city of Nasiriyah early Monday after fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr drove Italian forces out of a base there. Residents said seven fighters were killed in overnight battles.

An Italian soldier on Monday died of wounds suffered during an attack on the base of the Carabinieri paramilitary police the day before in Nasiriyah, the Defense Ministry in Rome said. The soldier was the 20th Italian to die in Iraq, after a suicide truck bomb in Nasiriyah killed 19 on Nov. 12.

The Italian troops in Nasiriyah have been under attack for three days. At least nine others were injured in the clashes with armed supporters of al-Sadr, who launched an uprising against the coalition last month and faces an arrest warrant in the killing of a rival moderate cleric last year.

Despite the overnight bombing, militiamen were in control of some government buildings in Nasiriyah, and some people were taking advantage of the chaos to loot cars, residents said.

The Italian troops evacuated their base on Sunday as it came under repeated attack. Portuguese police were called out to support the Italians, their first action since the force of 128 deployed to Nasiriyah in November, a Portuguese duty officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Italians relocated to the nearby Tallil air base.

US jets also bombed targets in Karbala, and there were clashes in the city, witnesses said. The bodies of six militiamen were seen in the streets on Monday.

There were intermittent blasts and gunfire overnight in Najaf, another southern city where al-Sadr supporters and American forces have fought in recent days. The new US-appointed governor of Najaf, Adnan al-Zurufi, said Monday that unidentified assailants killed his uncle, Kadhim Abbas al-Zurufi.

Amid the ongoing violence, the United States is looking to move some of its 37,000 US troops stationed in South Korea to bolster forces in Iraq, South Korean and US officials said.

"The US government has told us that it needs to select some US troops in South Korea and send them to Iraq to cope with the worsening situation in Iraq," said Kim Sook, head of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's North American Bureau.

A senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said any shift in troops from South Korea would be part of the next rotation of American troops in Iraq, set to begin late this summer.

Tapping into the US military force in Korea would be an historic move by the Pentagon, underscoring the degree to which the military is stretched to provide enough forces for Iraq while meeting its other commitments

The coalition is struggling to disband the cleric's army and sideline its radical leadership before handing power to a new Iraqi government.