Rebels Detonate Bombs, Fire Mortars At Government Offices in Iraq

Insurgents fired 10 mortar rounds at the governor’s office in the northern city of Mosul, where violence erupted as U.S. forces focused on Fallujah. One of the governor’s bodyguards was killed and four others wounded.

The mortars landed near a fuel truck, setting it ablaze. Gov. Duraid Kashmoula was unhurt in the attack, said spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, the Associated Press reported.

In western Baghdad, a car bob exploded near the Yarmouk police station as a U.S. armored vehicle drove by, said police Capt. Ahmed Shihab. Two people were killed and five wounded in the blast. The U.S. military did not have immediate information on casualties, according to the AP.

Two civilians were killed and three hurt when a roadside bomb exploded near a job recruiting center and bus terminal in the center of Kirkuk, said Gen. Anwar Mohammed Amin with the Iraqi National Guard.

While U.S. forces worked to regain control of Fallujah and Mosul, violence continued in other Sunni Muslim-populated parts of Iraq.

U.S. armored units moved into Ramadi to confront guerrillas who opened fire on them with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, British Embassy officials said a body found Sunday believed to be that of Margaret Hassan, director of CARE International’s Iraq operations, was flown out of Iraq to undergo DNA testing.

U.S. Marines found the body, clothed in what appeared to be a purple velour dress and wrapped in a blanket with a blood-soaked black cloth nearby, on a street in Fallujah.

Hassan, a British citizen born in Ireland who had worked in Iraq for 30 years, was abducted as she was being driven to her office on Oct. 19. Al Jazeera television said it obtained a video of a hooded figure shooting a blindfolded woman in the head.

Her family said Tuesday that she was probably dead and appealed to the kidnappers to reveal the location of her body.

Condemnation of the apparent killing of the aid worker continued Thursday.

“This latest example of cruelty and brutality reminds us that there can be only one answer to terrorism and that is the completely uncompromising and unconditional one,” said Australian Prime Minister John Howard.