From Canada’s Globe and Mail:
TORONTO — Iraqi gunmen have kidnapped and killed a Canadian citizen in Baghdad, a slaying that occurred despite the fact his family was preparing to pay $250,000 demanded for his release.
Zaid Meerwali fled dictator Saddam Hussein’s Iraq to live in Canada in the early 1990s. His family says he became a successful chartered accountant before returning to his homeland early this year to get married and start an import-export business. […]
“Any Canadians in Iraq should leave. The situation remains volatile,” Prime Minister Paul Martin said yesterday in a statement. […]
His brother cautioned other Iraqis in Canada not to return to their native country.
“I would tell them, don’t risk your family.”
And, “in a succession of three car bomb attacks in central Baghdad,” at least 25 people are dead and more than 50 injured. Update [2005-8-17 11:26:17 by susanhu]: The death toll has risen to 43, reports Xinhua.
PHOTO CAPTION: “Black smoke fills the sky following car bombings in central Baghdad.” (Xinhua/AFP)
“‘We have now a new total of casualties — 43 people including policemen killed and 76 others wounded, in the three suicide bombings,’ Captain Ahmed Abdullah, an Interior Ministry official, told Xinhua.
“Early Wednesday morning, the first car bomb went off at about 7:50 a.m. (0350 GMT) inside a main Baghdad’s bus station in al-Nahdha district, according to a police source.
“The second suicide car bomb blew up a few minutes later outside the bus station near al-Rashid police station in the same district, the source said.
“The third suicide car bomb detonated on the road leading to the nearby Kindi Hospital, the source said.” (Xinhua)
