IRAQ: BOMBS CONTINUE TO EXPLODE IN IRAQ AS THE GOVERNMENT BEGINS TO DISTRIBUTE COMPENSATION FOR DESTROYED BUILDINGS TO THE INHABITANTS OF FALLUJA

Record ID: 358683

  • Title: IRAQ: BOMBS CONTINUE TO EXPLODE IN IRAQ AS THE GOVERNMENT BEGINS TO DISTRIBUTE COMPENSATION FOR DESTROYED BUILDINGS TO THE INHABITANTS OF FALLUJA
  • Date: 20th March 2005
  • Summary: (BN10) MOSUL, IRAQ (MARCH 20, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV ARMOURED VEHICLE OUTSIDE BUILDING WHERE BLAST TOOK PLACE 0.05 (MUTE) 2. SLV EXTERIOR OF BUILDING 0.09 3. SLV/SV INTERIORS OF DAMAGED BUILDING (2 SHOTS) 0.20 4. MCU (English) U.S. LIEUTENANT COLONEL, SAYING: "Regretfully a suicide bomber assassinated General W
  • Embargoed: 4th April 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MOSUL, BAGHDAD, BASRA AND FALLUJA, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAEDEDBGCFUJ4UP3U3YEC48FSXR
  • Story Text: Bombs continue to explode in Iraq as the government
    begins to distribute compensation for destroyed buildings
    to the inhabitants of Falluja.



    In the northern city of Mosul a suicide bomber
    killed the head of the Iraqi police anti-corruption
    department on Sunday (March 20), officials said.

    A U.S. lieutenant-colonel said the bomber detonated
    explosives strapped to his body in the building where
    Brigadier Walid Kashmoula worked. Earlier officials said it
    was a bomb attack.

    Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu
    Musab al-Zarqawi, said it had assassinated "the apostate
    Walid Kashmoula, who is the top American agent" in the
    area.

    "This will be the fate of those who stand by the
    polytheists," al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq
    said in a statement posted on an Islamist Web site.

    Insurgents in Iraq have repeatedly targeted leading
    police and army officials. Iraqi police and soldiers are
    also frequent targets of attack by gunmen and suicide
    bombers.

    In central Baghdad a car bomb exploded near a building
    of the Ministry of Interior on Sunday, wounding two
    civilians, police said.

    Insurgents frequently attack Iraqi police and troops
    whom they accuse of working with U.S.-led forces they want
    out of the country.

    And in the southern Iraqi city of Basra a roadside
    bomb killed one policeman and wounded another on Sunday.

    The bomb was aimed at an Iraqi police convoy as it
    drove through the al-Tweej neighbourhood and came a day
    after hundreds of students protested in front of the
    governor's office for the third day running.

    Iraqi police chief, Lieutenant Colonel Ali Manshad
    Innad of Al-Ashaar police station said that the explosion
    took place near a police convoy but only caused slight
    damage.

    The students were protesting against the Shi'ite
    parties and militias which largely run Basra. They accused
    police officers of standing by and doing nothing to stop
    the attack.

    The Iraqi interim government started on Sunday to pay
    compensation to the inhabitants of Falluja.

    The Compensation committee which was formed by the
    Iraqi government paid about 20 per cent of the compensation
    to some of Falluja residents.

    Lieutenant Colonel Bill Brown said, "We are here for a
    very special day. The housing compensation payments, the
    first round of those payments is taking place right here.

    We are very proud of the leaders in Baghdad, we are very
    proud of the leaders here in Falluja who have made this day
    possible. We look forward to assisting the leaders of
    Falluja to make sure that the home owners of Falluja get
    compensated."
    Fawzi Muhammed, a member of the compensation committee
    said that about 72 families from the city received
    compensation, 20 percent as a first payment, after the
    assault in November that was designed to root out
    insurgents and stabilise Falluja.

    Approximately 70 percent of the houses and shops were
    destroyed in the city.

    Thaira Khalil who was at the centre to receive her
    compensation was unsatisfied.

    "We are here today to receive the compensation for our
    destroyed houses. But the compensation is not enough. What
    we lost is much more".

    Iraq's interim government said earlier that people
    would eventually be paid 2,000 U.S. dollars compensation
    for partial damage to their homes, 4,000 U.S. dollars for
    substantial damage and 10,000 U.S. dollars if their homes
    were completely destroyed in the assault.

    Shopkeepers would receive 1,500-3,000 U.S. dollars
    based on the size of their shop and what they sell, it said
    in a statement.

    More than 200,000 civilians fled the city before the
    assault.


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