25,000 police, soldiers deployed for Iraq Shiite festival


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Tuesday January 23, 2007

Baghdad- Around 25,000 policemen and soldiers were deployed
Tuesday in the Iraqi city of Karbala to safeguard against terrorist
attacks during the Shiite Ashura festival, as funerals took place for
dozens of Shiites who died in terrorist attacks the day before.
In the neighbouring city of Najaf, hundreds of Shiites were taking
part in funerals for the victims of the suicide bombing in downtown
Baghdad's al-Harag market in al-Tiyaran marketplace. The majority of
those killed in the attacks were Shiite Muslims.

The Iraqi Health Ministry meanwhile said the latest death toll was
80, with around 140 people injured by the two car bombers, some of
whom remain in serious condition.

The tribunal into the crimes of the Saddam Hussein regime is to
announce officially the death sentence against former Iraqi vice
president Taha Yassin Ramadan on Thursday, prosecuting attorney Jafer
al-Mussawi said Tuesday citing tribunal officials.

A life sentence against Ramadan was turned into a death sentence
by an appeals court. According to Iraqi law, he must be executed
within 30 days of the announcement of the sentence.

Like former president Saddam and two other regime functionaries
already hanged, Ramadan was found guilty of the murder of 148 Shiites
in the city of Dujail in 1982.

Separately, the US military in Iraq announced Tuesday that it lost
two more soldiers to violence in Iraq.

One died Monday from wounds sustained earlier in Anbar province,
one of the most violent areas in Iraq, while the second died the day
before from wounds sustained during a raid in southern Baghdad.

In an online video released Monday, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the number
two in command of the al-Qaeda terror network, warned the United
States that sending additional troops to Iraq would result in
consequences "worse than anything you have seen."

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency