Attacks broaden as handover nears

The killings of two Iraqi ministry figures over the weekend has sent a grim message to the new interim administration: Government officials will still be considered targets after the US-led coalition cedes control on June 30.

The drive-by assassinations of a deputy foreign minister and an official from the education ministry underscore the vulnerability of Iraqi officials, many of whom are career civil servants with limited protection.

Government and coalition officials blamed the killings on "leftover supporters of Saddam Hussein's evil regime." But the true identity of the assassins and those responsible for an ever-widening circle of attacks against foreigners, Iraqi security personnel, and the infrastructure remains unclear. The insurgency has become multi-dimensional, ranging from small cells of Iraqi nationalists determined to drive out US-led occupation troops to transnational Islamist groups whose sole intention is to thwart US ambitions here, even at the expense of a stable Iraq.

US officials say the latest spate of attacks against Iraqi officials is deliberately timed to undermine the transfer of power on June 30. Yet, although there has been an upsurge in attacks as the deadline draws near, Iraqi leaders, including members of the now defunct Governing Council, have been routinely targeted since the insurgency gathered pace a year ago. In September, Aqila Hashemi was shot dead outside her home in Baghdad. Last month, Izzedine Salim, who held the Governing Council presidency in May, was killed. Several other council members have narrowly survived assassination attempts.

Shattered glass on a residential street marks the spot where Bassam Kuba, undersecretary for international affairs at the foreign ministry and a veteran diplomat, was killed early Saturday morning as he drove into work. Sitting in the passenger seat of his Mercedes, Mr. Kuba had barely traveled 100 yards from his house in Baghdad's predominantly Sunni district of Adhamiyeh when a vehicle drew alongside and gunmen opened fire. His chauffeur, who was unhurt, drove him to a nearby hospital where the diplomat died.

"We heard the shooting while having breakfast. It was terrifying," says Zeena Khalil, who lives next door to the Kuba home. "I heard a car drive fast past our house. I thought they were looters."

Kuba, a former ambassador to China and adviser to Saddam Hussein's foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, had just returned from New York where he was involved in negotiations over a UN Security Council resolution on Iraq. The Iraqi foreign ministry said Kuba had been a victim of a "sinister and cowardly attack."

It was the first fatal shooting of a government official since the new interim government was formed earlier this month. But Sunday, just 24 hours after Kuba's death, gunmen killed Kamal Jarrah, director of cultural relations at the education ministry, as he left for work.

The two killings were not the only attacks against Iraqi officials in recent days. Gen. Hussein Mustafa, who heads Iraq's border guards, narrowly escaped Saturday when gunmen fired at his two-vehicle convoy on a Baghdad highway. Ammar Safar, the deputy health minister, was attacked Wednesday on his way to work.

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