Pilgrims, judge among wave of attacks across Iraq

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least 12 people were killed Thursday in attacks across Iraq, including Shiite pilgrims and a judge.

A car bomb in the southern Iraqi town of Kufa killed 11 and wounded 51 others near the Maytham al-Tammar mosque, a Shiite shrine, police said, adding that most of the victims were Iranian pilgrims.

Travel by Iranians to Shiite holy sites in Iraq has increased since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime fought Shiite Iran during the 1980s.

Police said several Iraqi children, who make a living wheeling invalid pilgrims in carts at the shrine, also were caught in the blast, Reuters reported, adding that many sleep there, waiting for business.

The bomb detonated as pilgrims were boarding buses in the morning, police said.

Kufa is considered a holy place by Shia Muslims and is just outside Najaf, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Baghdad.

It's also a base for many supporters of the radical Shiite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al Sadr, according to Reuters.

In another attack outside a mosque early Thursday, this one in southern Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on the car of a judge, Salah Hasan Al-Aousi, and killed him, Baghdad emergency police said.

Also in southern Baghdad, Iraqi soldiers and armed men clashed midmorning, wounding three civilians, police said.

A joint U.S.-Iraqi raid in Dora netted seven suspected terrorists, weapons, bombmaking materials and videotapes showing people being tortured, the U.S. military announced.

Message said to be from al-Zarqawi widow

A message claiming to be from a widow of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has surfaced on Islamist Web sites, pledging loyalty to Osama bin Laden and support for Islamic militants.

The authenticity of the message, said to be from Um Mohammed, can't be verified. It comes nearly a month after al-Zarqawi, then the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, was killed by a U.S. airstrike near Baquba.

The statement thanked bin Laden for his videotaped condolences last week on her husband's death and urged Muslim fighters to renew their loyalty to bin Laden, join the fight and battle anywhere the leadership needs them.

"Even though Abu Musab was killed, the mothers of this nation will bear children who would be harder on the infidels than Abu Musab was," the message says. "We, by God, will continue on pledging our loyalty and allegiance to you, and your orders we will obey."

Addressing the "mujahedeen" fighters in Iraq, she urged them to draw inspiration from al-Zarqawi's "martyrdom" and not be "shaken" by his death.

"Vengeance, vengeance. First for your religion, then your blood and honor, for this is what God and his prophet had urged you to do."

She also congratulated al-Zarqawi's family for the martyrdom of their son, telling them how much he loved them and longed to see them.

In an apparent reference to a videotape issued by al-Zarqawi earlier this year, the woman said he was pleased that his family could "see him well."

Iraqi PM addresses Mahmoudiya

Iraq's prime minister said Thursday he is about to start talks with coalition authorities over how to prevent violence by U.S. troops against Iraqi civilians.

Nuri al-Maliki's comments came in reference to the killing of a family of four civilians and the rape of one of them in Mahmoudiya.

A former U.S. soldier, Steven D. Green, has been charged in the incident -- which allegedly took place March 12 -- and military investigators said they have linked four other soldiers to the alleged attack.

The allegations are only the latest in a series of murder investigations involving U.S. troops in Iraq. (Find out about the other incidents)

Soldiers sent to serve in Iraq need to be properly trained and educated; those who are reckless or harbor grudges should not be sent, Maliki said at a news conference.

Reiterating remarks he made in Kuwait on Wednesday, al-Maliki said the issue of immunity for coalition troops under Iraqi law needs to be reviewed.

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