2007年VOA标准英语-Iraq's Deputy PM Stable Day After Bomb Attack
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By Margaret BesheerIrbil
24 March 2007
Iraq's deputy prime minister, injured in an assassination1 attempt Friday, was in stable condition and moved out of a Baghdad intensive care unit Saturday. Meanwhile, insurgents2 killed and injured several people in two separate Baghdad attacks, despite the on-going security crackdown in the capital. From northern Iraq, VOA's Margaret Besheer has more.
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| Salam al-Zobai speaks during a press conference in Baghdad in this May 2006 file photograph |
He said Zubaie's condition is stable and Saturday morning doctors removed his breathing tubes. He said he hoped the minister would be well enough to be discharged in the next few days.
Zubaie was injured Friday at his Baghdad compound when one of his entourage detonated an explosives belt, killing3 nine people and injuring Zubaie and several others. A few minutes later, a car parked inside the compound also exploded.
One of the minister's brothers and one of his advisers4 were among the dead.
Speaking on state-run television Saturday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said an investigation5 is being conducted into how the bomber6 was able to get explosives inside the compound undetected.
Mr. Maliki said the attack against Zubaie, a Sunni Arab, proves that the enemies of democracy and change in Iraq are determined7 to target those who are working hard for the country. He said Zubaie was very active against groups like al-Qaida.
In an Internet posting, the Islamic State of Iraq, a group linked to al-Qaida in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack against the deputy prime minister. The group also claimed the mortar8 strike on Baghdad's Green Zone Thursday that landed directly outside the building where U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Mr. Maliki were holding a news conference.
The authenticity9 of the claims could not be verified.
Meanwhile, despite a security crackdown in the capital, terrorists carried out two deadly attacks in southern Baghdad.
A suicide truck bomber struck a police station in a mainly Sunni area, killing and injuring several officers and civilians10. Earlier, in a Shi'ite enclave, a mortar attack killed three people and wounded several others.
In neighboring Iran, a report from the country's semi-official Fars agency says 15 British sailors and marines seized Friday by the Iranian navy in disputed waters off Iraq have been transferred to Tehran.
Fars reports that the British detainees are being asked to explain what Iranian officials call their "blatant11 aggression12." The agency quotes Iranian officials as saying the British navy knowingly and illegally entered Iranian territorial13 waters, and readings from the computerized navigational equipment aboard the seized British boats proves it.
The Britons had just finished searching a merchant vessel14 when they and their two boats were surrounded and escorted by Iranian ships into Iranian territorial waters. The British government has demanded their immediate15 and safe return.
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