BAGHDAD, May 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer vowed Monday suicide bombers would not prevent or slow the transfer of power to Iraqis next month.
He made the remarks at a Baghdad memorial service for Izzedin Salim, head of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council who died with eight others in a suicide bombing attack Monday morning.
"The terrorists are trying to stop Iraq's march to sovereignty and peace," Bremer said. "They will not succeed.
However, the killing of Salim outside the heavily guarded entrance to the U.S.-led coalition's headquarters demonstrated that the alliance remained vulnerable to attack even in its best-defended areas, the Financial Times said.
Elsewhere in Iraq, fighting between U.S. forces and fighters loyal to the rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr in the holy city of Karbala early Tuesday left at least eight Iraqis dead and 13 wounded.
A U.S. military official said Monday that U.S. forces had killed 51 guerrillas in fighting in the south, which has stretched coalition forces.
Britain and the United States announced plans this week to move 7,000 more soldiers into Iraq in the run-up to the political turnover June 30.
