11 killed in Mosul; Chemical Ali gets death sentence (Roundup)

Dec 2, 2008, 14:45 GMT

Baghdad- Three separate attacks on Tuesday left at least 11 people dead and 41 injured in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, while Saddam-era defence chief Ali Hassan al-Majid ('Chemical Ali') was sentenced to death for his role in the suppression of the 1991 Shiite uprising.

In Mosul, a car blast left four civilians dead and 12 injured, police sources said.

A car was detonated in the market in al-Baladiyat neighbourhood in the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported.

In Telafar, another car blast caused the deaths of five and injured 29. The blast took place in the neighbourhood of Saraya.

Also in Mosul, unknown assailants have killed two members of a Sunni party.

Marwan Nazar and Jabar Mohammed of vice-president Tariq al- Hashimi's Iraqi Islamic Party were shot dead in separate incidents, police sources said.

Tuesday's attacks come a day after a spate of deadly explosions which left at least 16 people dead and around 37 injured in separate incidents in Mosul

Observers in Iraq have warned of an escalation in politically motivated violence in the run-up to provincial council elections in January.

Separately, the Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court sentenced Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as Chemical Ali, to death for the brutal crushing of the Shiite uprising that followed the expulsion of Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991.

Al-Majid, a cousin of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, served as Iraq's intelligence chief and defence minister at the time.

This was the second death sentence on al-Majid following one in June for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his part in the 1988 Anfal campaign, which killed 180,000 Kurdish civilians and guerrillas.

Abdul Ghani Abdul Ghafour, a former Baath Party official, also received a death sentence on Tuesday along with al-Majid.

Life sentences were handed down against Ibrahim Abdelsattar Mohammed, Iyad Fatieh al-Rawi, a former chief of staff and a Republican Guard commander, Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, a former assistant chief of staff and Saber Abdul-Aziz al-Dori, the former chief of military intelligence.

Al-Majid, who was listed as the fifth most-wanted man in Iraq after the US invasion, was captured in August 2003.

Meanwhile, the so-called Islamic Army in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack on the UN's headquarters in the heavily fortified Green Zone in the centre of Baghdad on Saturday, VOI reported Tuesday.

The claim, posted on the internet, said the attack was aimed at the US embassy. The claim has not yet been verified as originating from the group.

The mortar attack resulted in the deaths of two contract workers for the UN. Fifteen people were injured in the attack.