Governor Of Mosul Assassinated In Iraq

14 July 2004 -- The governor of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Yousif Usama Kashmula, was killed on his way to Baghdad when his convoy was attacked by insurgents.
The AFP news agency is quoting a spokesman for the governorate, Hazim Jalawi, as saying the governor was killed in the region of T'lul al-Baj, 110 kilometers south of Mosul. The attack is said to have also killed two people accompanying the governor.

Officials said the assailants threw a grenade at the vehicle carrying the governor and fired automatic weapons.

In Baghdad, at least 11 Iraqis were killed and 40 people were injured in a car bombing. And gunmen killed an Industry Ministry official in a drive-by shooting outside his office.

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said he believes the bombing was carried out in retaliation for the interim government's recent crackdown on crime and terror suspects: "This is, yet again, another crime which has been committed against the Iraqi people."

Bulgaria's parliament today reaffirmed its commitment to keeping troops in Iraq, a day after a militant group beheaded one Bulgarian worker and threatened to kill another unless U.S. forces release all Iraqi detainees.

The Philippine government took a different approach. Some of the Philippines' 51 troops in Iraq have started leaving the country a month ahead of schedule. The early withdrawal comes as militants threatened to kill a Filipino hostage.

(AFP/Reuters/AP/dpa)