- Title: IRAQ: CAR BOMB EXPLODES NEAR POLICE STATION AND WOUNDS FIVE PEOPLE
- Date: 2nd July 2004
- Summary: (W2) RAMADI, IRAQ (JUNE 28, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV WRECKAGE FROM CAR BOMB WHICH EXPLODED NEAR POLICE STATION; SLV CAR WHICH EXPLODED; DAMAGE (3 SHOTS) 0.22 2. MV WOUNDED IN THE HOSPITAL 0.34 3. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER, SAYING "The car was near the medicine storage area. It was filled with explosives. We saw American
- Embargoed: 17th July 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: RAMADI, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA4G3GPEJNAQJXRM1GR8DS01QZW
- Story Text: Car bomb explodes near an Iraqi police station,
wounding five people.
A car bomb at a police station wounds five officers
in Ramadi late on Monday (June 28, 2004), hours after the United
States handed sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government
formally ending 14 months of occupation.
A police officer who was wounded in the attack said that
car "was filled with explosives, when we got close to the
car, it exploded."
The car bombing was one in a series of attacks on local
security forces, a main target for insurgents who have
mounted bloody attacks aimed at disrupting the handover of
power to Iraqis.
Naming security as his number one priority, Iraq's
interim prime minister has pledged to restructure his
forces to crush insurgents mounting attacks ranging from
suicide car bombings to co-ordinated raids on police
stations.
But many of the country's roughly 84,000 police
officers, 40,000 national guards and 3,000 soldiers in a
new army have only basic training and equipment.
U.S. and British officials say the handover is a key
step on the path to democracy in Iraq, but one of the
government's first actions as a sovereign power is expected
to be the imposition of emergency laws, including curfews,
to crack down on guerrillas.
Although the new government will have "full
sovereignty", according to a U.N. Security Council
resolution earlier this month, there are important
constraints on its powers.
It is barred from making long-term policy decisions and
will not have control over more than 160,000 foreign troops
who will remain in Iraq. The government has the right to
ask them to leave, but has made clear it has no intention
of doing so.
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