Today, a car bomb targeted a U.S. convoy but wounded Iraqi civilians.

COMBINED DISPATCHES
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi thrust himself Thursday into direct confrontation with the insurgency at war with his fledgling government, unveiling a new intelligence agency that he vowed will "annihilate those terrorist groups," even as the death toll mounted from a second day of brutal attacks.
Emerging as by far the most visible face in the new Iraqi government, the former exile -- whom insurgents have named as their prime target -- delivered his bluntest challenge yet to rebels who continue to fight nearly three weeks after the hand-over of power that many Iraqis had expected would bring a downturn in violence.
"Their fate is to be annihilated," Allawi said of the insurgents, speaking to reporters in a Baghdad auditorium less than 200 meters from where a suicide attacker detonated a car bomb a day earlier, killing 11 people.
Car bomb
Allawi spoke just hours after insurgents detonated a car bomb near a municipal building in the western Iraqi city of Haditha, killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens. It was also less than 24 hours after rebels ambushed and killed the popular governor of northern Nineveh province and gunmen opened fire Thursday on cars belonging to Iraq's foreign minister, killing one official and wounding two, though Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari was not in the two-car convoy at the time.
The renewed attacks, after two weeks of relative calm, came as a headless body was found in the Tigris River in the style of orange jumpsuit familiar to the world from chilling videos of captured foreigners, the U.S. military said Thursday.
Authorities could not immediately determine whether the body is that of a victim already thought to have been decapitated by Islamist militants, or yet one more casualty in a kidnapping-and-beheading campaign that has claimed the lives of three foreign workers in Iraq. The body was found Wednesday night by Iraqi police near the city of Beiji, 100 miles northwest of Baghdad, and is pending identification, the military said.
Convoy attacked
Meanwhile, an explosion targeting a U.S. military convoy ripped through a residential neighborhood in Baghdad today, the U.S. military and witnesses said.
Iraqi civilians were wounded in the blast and taken to a nearby hospital. No soldiers were reported injured.
The bombing, kidnappings and the delicate diplomatic challenges they pose have emerged as a sudden test of the new Iraqi government, taking leaders once envisioned as little more than caretakers and plunging them into the most sensitive foreign-policy and security decisions.
Allawi had spent the first weeks after the official launch of the new government in quiet negotiations with rebel leaders, hoping to use a carefully calibrated amnesty to win over part of the insurgency. But with this week's bloodshed shattering two weeks of relative calm, the physician and longtime CIA-ally -- who still walks with a limp from an ax attack years ago by Saddam Hussein's agents -- emerged Thursday talking not of negotiation but of direct conflict.
"We will not spare any effort to defeat our enemies," he said, flanked by Iraq's interior minister and defense minister.
Intelligence efforts
Without offering much detail, Allawi said the new General Security Directorate will focus on gathering intelligence and directing the efforts to destroy insurgent groups on Iraqi soil.
Despite Allawi's attempts to rely on back room dealings to split the insurgency, the kidnappings have made it increasingly awkward for him to keep up talks with one segment of the insurgency, even as other elements unleash brazen assaults designed to spark an exodus of foreign troops and workers.
Addressing the threat of sudden departures by foreign nations, the prime minister urged the Philippine government to reconsider its decision to remove 51 peacekeepers in its effort to save the life of a captured truck driver.
"We do not negotiate with terrorists. Period. We will bring them to justice," Allawi said, adding that he had conveyed his plea in a conversation with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. "The international community needs to close ranks against terrorism."
Captive on TV
A day after the Philippine government began withdrawing its troops, Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera broadcast video Thursday showing 46-year-old captive Angelo dela Cruz thanking his country for withdrawing its troops and saying he would be home soon. A statement from the militants, later read on the channel, said the Filipino would not be released until all the Filipino troops are withdrawn.
Rebels are known to have beheaded an American and a South Korean since the pattern of kidnappings and executions began in May. Captors also released a tape this week that Al Jazeera said showed the death of a Bulgarian hostage, along with a threat to kill a second hostage within 24 hours if Bulgaria did not remove its 470-strong contingent.
Security focus
Allawi is seeking to overshadow news of the kidnappings by focusing attention on modest but real steps forward taken by Iraqi security services. Police and national guard forces have languished for months with shabby equipment, questionable loyalty and poor training. But after a series of stumbles that embarrassed U.S. leaders who had touted them as a cornerstone of Iraq's reconstruction, the Iraqi forces are now visibly more alert and better equipped on Baghdad streets, as they take on a greater share of checkpoints and patrolling tasks.
In his first weeks, Allawi and his Cabinet have turned to those forces, in particular, to target organized crime and foreign fighters. They passed a strict new national-security law that would empower the state to impose curfews, monitor telephone calls and other communication, and other martial-law measures. The prime minister has not yet exercised these powers.