2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 28, 2005 NATION/WORLD I AP PHOTO Above is an undated two-image combo released by the U.S. Army yesterday of Abdullah Abu Azzam, top aide to the al-Qalda leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Coalition forces kill No 2 Iraqi a Terrorist group denies that slain man was a top leader BAGHDAD (AP) - U.S. and Iraqi authorities said yesterday their forces had killed the No. 2 official of the Iraqi al- Qaida during in a weekend raid in Bagh- dad, claiming to have struck a "painful blow" to the country's most feared insur- gent group. Abdullah Abu Azzam led al-Qaida's operations in Baghdad, planning a brutal wave of suicide bombings in the capital since April, killing hundreds of people, officials said. According to an Associated Press tally, 698 people have been killed and 1,579 have been wounded since April 1 in suicide attacks in Baghdad. He also controlled the finances for for- eign fighters that flowed into Iraq to join the insurgency. Abu Azzam, who a government spokesman said was an Iraqi, was the top deputy to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Abu Azzam was on a list of Iraq's 29 most-wanted insurgents issued by the U.S. military in February and had a bounty of $50,000 on his head. AI-Qaida in Iraq denied that Abu Azzam was the No. 2 leader of the orga- nization and said "it was not confirmed" -Qalda official that he was killed. "Abu Azzam was one of al-Qaida's many soldiers and is the leader of one of its battalions operating in Baghdad," the group said in an Internet statement by its spokesman, Abu May- sara al-Iraqi. It called the U.S. and Iraqi claims that he was the group's top deputy "a futile attempt ... to raise the morale of their troops." A suicide bomber attacked Iraqis applying for jobs as policemen Today in Baqouba, 30 miles north of Baghdad, killing nine and wounding 21. The U.S. military also said a Marine was killed yoday by a roadside bomb in the town of Khaldiyah, west of Baghdad. The death brought to 1,918 the number of U.S. troops who have died since the Iraq war started in 2003, according to an AP count. Police found the bodies of 22 Iraqi men who had been shot to death in southern Iraq, many of them bound and blindfolded, said Maj. Felah Al-Mohammedawi of the Interior Ministry. Their identities were not immediately known. It was not immediately clear what effect Abu Azzam's death would have on al-Qaida in Iraq, which has been one of the deadliest militant groups, car- rying out suicide attacks that targeted the country's Shiite majority. The U.S. military has claimed to have killed or captured leading al-Zarqawi aides in the past and attacks have continued unabated - although Abu Azzam appeared to be a more significant figure. Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chair- man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the killing of Abu Azzam would force insur- gents "to go to the bench and find some- body that is probably less knowledgeable and less qualified." "It's like fighting the al-Qaida net- work. It will have some impact, but over time they will replace people," Myers said at the Pentagon. Iraqi government spokesman Laith Kubba called the killing of Abu Azzam a "painful blow" to al-Qaida, but warned that the group would likely carry out revenge attacks. Abu Azzam was killed early Sunday when U.S. and Iraqi forces raided a high- rise apartment building in Baghdad, Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, a U.S. military spokesman, told the AP. "They went in to capture him, he did not surrender, and he was killed in the raid," Boylan said. The Iraqi and U.S. forces targeted the building after a tip from an Iraqi citizen, Kubba said. During the raid, the troops captured another militant in the apartment with Abu Azzam, Kubba said. Israel moves against Hamas Likud's victory does not guarantee Sharon will stay in party JERUSALEM (AP) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's narrow defeat of a challenge within his Likud Party gave him time to decide his political future, but he may still bolt the party if it refuses to support his political program, an adviser said Yesterday. Israel pressed ahead Yesterday with its offensive against Palestin- ian militants yesterday and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said the army would attack them relentlessly to force them to stop firing rockets at Israeli towns. Tensions in the region were fur- ther inflamed when Hamas mili- tants released a video of a bound and blindfolded Israeli businessman who they had kidnapped and later killed - an attack that appeared to signal a new tactic in the militants' fight against Israel. The flare-up in violence had been expected to harm Sharon's chances in Monday's vote in the Likud central committee, where party hard-liners hoped to punish Sharon for his with- drawal from the Gaza Strip. Sharon prevailed with a slim mar- gin. His allies had said that if he lost, he might leave Likud, call early elec- tions and run as head of a new cen- trist party. Sharon might still bolt the party if it refuses to back his major policies, said Lior Horev, Sharon's political adviser. "Either the party stands behind him, or he has to choose a differ- ent way in order to push forward his agenda," Horev said. Sharon's main rival, Benjamin Netanyahu, insisted he would pre- vail in party primaries next year by tapping into the deep vein of anger among party members who feel the prime minister betrayed Likud's nationalist roots. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who backed Sharon in the vote, said he advised the prime minister to work to heal the bitter divisions in the party. "Today everything needs to be done to unite the ranks," Shalom told Israel TV. "It's crucial to try to keep everyone together." Renewed fighting with the Pal- estinians in Gaza over the past week has compounded Sharon's political problems. Hamas militants launched dozens of homemade Qas- sam rockets at southern Israel over the weekend, prompting a major Israeli offensive, marked by air- strikes in Gaza and arrest raids in the West Bank. Israel fired live artillery shells into the northern Gaza Strip on yesterday in what Israeli security officials said was a symbolic act to warn Palestin- ian militants to halt their attacks on Israelis. WASHINGTON Brown blames others for failures Former FEMA director Michael Brown blamed others for most government failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina yesterday, especially Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. He aggressively defended his own role, yesterday. Brown also said that in the days before the storm, he expressed his con- cerns that "this is going to be a bad one" in phone conversations and e-mails with President Bush, White House chief of staff Andy Card and deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin. He also blames the Department of Homeland Security for not acquiring better equipment ahead of the storm. His efforts to shift blame drew sharp criticism from Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike. "I'm happy you left," said Rep. Christopher Shays, (R-Conn.) "That kind of look in the lights like a deer tells me you weren't capable of doing that job." Rep. Gene Taylor, (D-Miss.), told Brown: "The disconnect was, people thought there was some federal expertise out there. There wasn't. Not from you." NEW ORLEANS City's police chief resigns after 26 years Police Superintendent Eddie Compass resigned yesterday after four turbulent weeks in which the police force was wracked by desertions and disorganization in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. "I served this department for 26 years and have taken it through some of the toughest times of its history. Every man in a leadership position must know when it's time to hand over the reins," Compass said at a news conference. "I'll be going on in another direction that God has for me." As the city slipped into anarchy during the first few days after Katrina, the 1,700-member police department itself suffered a crisis. Many officers deserted their posts, and some were accused of joining in the looting that broke out. Two officers Compass described as friends committed suicide. Neither Compass nor Mayor Ray Nagin would say whether Compass was pres- sured to resign. LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana Bush travels to Gulf Coast to view damage President Bush flew over the largely obliterated Louisiana town of Cameron and circled an offshore oil rig yesterday in his first up-close look at the devastation that Hurricane Rita brought to the Gulf Coast's oil producing and refining communities. "This area's hurting," Bush said before an hour-long helicopter tour over the debris-strewn communities along the Texas-Louisiana border where Rita blew ashore. "I saw firsthand how it's hurting." Bush saw flattened and flooded homes, hundreds of downed trees, extensive roof damage and dozens of stranded and wandering cows. He flew over utility towers that had been knocked over, a Blockbuster video store with windows knocked into the parking lot, a power company worker making repairs and a riverboat washed halfway up onto muddy ground. NEW YORK Greenspan: Economy endurighigh oil prices Stocks closed mostly higher yesterday after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greens- pan said the economy has weathered the increase in oil prices "reasonably well. Earlier in the session, stocks fell after consumer confidence hit its lowest point in two years, raising fears that U.S. shoppers might cut their spending and slow the economy. But Greenspan calmed investors by emphasizing "the incredible resilience of te U.S. economy in terms of flexibility," said Lynn Reaser, chief economist for the investment strategy group at Bank of America. _ .:1V A- :o 1 NEWS IN BRIEF HED E FR ARUN T _i. 1 '/,/ s x , al - Compiled from Daily wire reports U m DON'T FORGET! RESUME SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS OCTOBER 10, 2005 CORRECTIONS Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com. 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com I * JASON Z. PESICK Editor in Chief pesick@michigandaily.com 647-3336 Sun.-Thurs. 5 p.m.-- 2 a.m. JONATHAN DOBBERSTEIN Business Manager business@michigandaily.com 764-0558 Mon-Fri. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. .Gf.,r X. d:8r :{ if /: 4Kam . fftr f i o' f+r r fyq dri. 'X 4sf f f' r r+{: 4r h' r' r' f ;Y x 'f , l it 7'7 1, _ '# ;'4. 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