Captive governor found dead in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Anbar province's governor, who was kidnapped earlier this month, was found dead in a farmhouse in a desolate area of western Iraq after a shootout between U.S. forces and foreign fighters, U.S. and Iraqi officials announced yesterday.

Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi's body was discovered near Rawah, about 175 miles west of the capital, on Sunday after a pitched battle that started when the foreign fighters launched a rocket-propelled grenade and fired at a passing U.S. patrol.

Soldiers from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment said foreign fighters holed up in the farmhouse fired first, said Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad. The American soldiers returned fire, including an anti-tank round, Boylan said.

When the soldiers entered the house after the shooting stopped, they found al-Mahalawi, dead and blindfolded with his hands bound to a gasoline tank. The U.S. military flew the body back to his hometown of Al Qaim, and family members identified the governor.

Four foreign fighters who apparently died in the shootout and three others who were injured also were found in the house, said Laith Kuba, chief spokesman for the Iraqi government.

Kuba speculated that insurgents targeted al-Mahalawi because he supported the U.S. forces' hunt for foreign fighters in the turbulent province. Al-Mahalawi was kidnapped May 10 in the midst of a massive Marine offensive dubbed Operation Matador to sweep up insurgents in the area around Al Qaim in western Iraq.

Soon after his kidnapping, insurgents contacted al-Mahalawi's family and said they would hold him until U.S. forces left Al Qaim.

An autopsy revealed that al-Mahalawi died of blunt head trauma and he suffered no wounds from the gunfire, Boylan said. Kuba said it was likely the injuries were caused by debris that fell in the explosion, while Boylan said the manner of death was uncertain.

Two Iraqi soldiers were killed yesterday when a car bomb exploded in the north-central city of Baqouba, news services reported.

Four Italian soldiers also died yesterday when their helicopter crashed near the southern city of Nasiriyah. A day earlier, four members of the U.S. Air Force and an Iraqi airman died when the Iraqi aircraft they were flying crashed near Khanaqin.

Information in this article, originally published June 1, 2005, was corrected June 06, 2005. A previous version of this story incorrectly said U.S. troops had fired a tank round into a house in which the governor of Iraq's Anbar province was found dead after a battle. The soldiers fired an anti-tank round, according to a U.S. military spokesman.