New Security Force Planned

After a second major car bombing in 24 hours, Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi vowed Thursday to “annihilate” militants and announced that his interim government was forming a new national security agency to fight the insurgency.

A car bomb that exploded near a government complex in Haditha, about 125 miles northwest of Baghdad, killed 10 people, including three policemen. In Karbala, south of the capital, police apparently prevented more deaths when, acting on a tip, they chased an explosives-laden car. Two occupants died when they blew up the vehicle, but no one else was hurt.

Insurgents also fired rockets into a refugee camp near the northern city of Kirkuk, killing six people and injuring seven. And militants sabotaged Iraq’s main north-south pipeline, setting off huge blazes and halting oil exports to Turkey.

In Mosul, Nineveh province security chief Salem Issa said police had identified a decapitated body found in the Tigris River a day earlier as the remains of a Bulgarian hostage reported slain Tuesday by his captors. There was no word on the fate of a second Bulgarian whose abductors had threatened to kill him by Wednesday night unless U.S.-led forces released all Iraqi prisoners in their custody.

About midway along the highway between Baghdad and Kirkuk, gunmen fired on two cars carrying Foreign Ministry officials, killing one and wounding two. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who was not in the convoy, was believed to have been the target.

A rash of kidnappings and executions has imperiled military and civilian contingents working with the predominantly American multinational forces.

A kidnapped Philippine truck driver who had been under threat of execution until Manila agreed to withdraw its last 43 troops from Iraq appeared on the Al Jazeera satellite television channel to thank his government. A Saudi company also announced that it would cease business in Iraq to win the release of its Egyptian employee.

Allawi has adopted an aggressive security stance since his government took over from the U.S.-led occupation June 28. The caretaker government has given itself the power to proclaim martial law, cracked down on crime in the capital and moved to re-integrate ousted members of Saddam Hussein’s deposed regime to lure them away from the insurgency.

Allawi added his voice to the displeasure expressed by U.S. and other officials over the Philippines’ decision to bow to insurgent demands to save the life of hostage Angelo de la Cruz.

In the Al Jazeera broadcast, De la Cruz told his family that he would be home soon. The little-known militant group holding him, the Iraqi Islamic Army-Khaled bin Waleed Corps, said the 46-year-old would be freed when the last Philippine soldier left Iraq.

This morning, Manila broadcast an announcement saying the pullout would begin today with the departure of the head of its humanitarian mission and 10 other troops.

Manila’s contingent was originally scheduled to depart by Aug. 20.

At the White House, Press Secretary Scott McClellan said President Bush found Manila’s actions “disappointing ... because it does send the wrong signal to the terrorists.”

At a news conference to unveil plans for the domestic security force, Allawi expressed sympathy for De la Cruz, his family and the Philippine people. But he urged Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to reconsider her decision.

“We cannot give way to terrorism,” he said.

Allawi said he was creating the General Security Directorate “to annihilate those terrorist groups, God willing.”

His news conference was held steps from the scene of a Wednesday car bombing that killed 11 Iraqis.

Allawi also said he was asking a number of countries with significant Muslim populations to send forces to help secure Iraq, apparently in hopes that insurgents would be less likely to target fellow Muslims. He said he was in talks with Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Morocco and Egypt. He also announced that his first trip abroad as prime minister would be to neighboring Arab countries.

In an interview with the Al Hayat newspaper, Allawi said Iraqi police and national guardsmen had arrested several key insurgents in recent days, including a driver for Jordanian-born fugitive and suspected Al Qaeda lieutenant Abu Musab Zarqawi.

Zarqawi is the most wanted militant believed to be in Iraq and the U.S. has put a $25-million bounty on him. A group reportedly loyal to him has claimed responsibility for beheading three hostages -- Bulgarian Georgi Lazov, South Korean Kim Sun Il and American Nicholas Berg. Zarqawi is also blamed for much of the violence that has killed hundreds of Iraqis and foreign troops in recent months.

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Times staff writers Edwin Chen in Washington, Richard C. Paddock in Manila and special correspondent Ashraf Khalil in Baghdad contributed to this report.