By IAN FISHER
Published: May 18, 2004
AGHDAD, Iraq, May 17 — A suicide bomber killed the president of the Iraqi Governing Council and at least six other people on Monday at a checkpoint into the main headquarters for the American occupation forces in Iraq.
Two American soldiers and five Iraqi civilians were wounded in the attack, the military said.
It was unclear if the victim, Ezzedine Salim, an Islamist politician and writer who this month held the council's rotating presidency, was the specific target. But the death of the nominal head of the most important body of Iraqis deepened the uncertainty here only 45 days before limited sovereignty is to be handed over to Iraqis, on June 30. American officials hope that step will decrease the violence that has sharply risen in the last month and a half.
"The countdown is there, and then they are escalating," said Mahmoud Othman, who also sits on the 25-member council, referring to anti-American insurgents. "They don't want this political process to succeed. And they want just to have more deterioration of the security situation."
The violence continued on Monday as American warplanes dropped bombs on the positions of insurgent Shiite Muslims in Karbala and troops pushed back attacks in the southern city of Nasiriya. American officials also announced that they had discovered an artillery shell in Baghdad several days ago loaded with the deadly nerve gas sarin. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld reacted cautiously to the discovery, saying more extensive tests were necessary.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/18/international/middleeast/18IRAQ.html?ex=1085544000&en=5aa0f804bf17b70c&ei=5043&partner=EXCITE
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