BAGHDAD, Aug 24 (AFP) - Two ministers in Iraq`s US-backed interim government escaped Baghdad bomb attacks on Tuesday, in which at least five people were killed and six wounded, a bodyguard and an official aide said.
Environment Minister Mishkat al-Moumin escaped a suicide attack at around 8:00 am (0400 GMT) in the southern part of the capital, said guard Shamil Kamel.
Just 30 minutes later, in the Al-Khudra district of eastern Baghdad, a roadside bomb blew up as Education Minister Sami al-Mudhaffar, 64, was driving past, his office told AFP.
The first attack happened as Moumin left a highly fortified zone in Qadisiya where many Iraqi ministers live. A driver tried to smash a car packed with explosives into her vehicle, said Kamel.
Two other vehicles in the convoy blocked Moumin`s car off before the bomber detonated the car at around 8:00 am (0400 GMT) without harming her, said Kamel, adding that all four dead and one of the wounded were bodyguards.
Moumin, one of six women in the interim Iraqi cabinet, paid tribute to her security detachment.
"I was coming out of the compound where I live to go to my office. I was in the first car, that`s why I managed to escape but several of my bodyguards are dead.
"I am extremely grateful to my protection service and I am terribly sorry for those who died and I will try to help their families as much as possible. I have spoken to the finance minister about compensation," she told AFP.
Three passers-by were also wounded, said a doctor at the Yarmuk hospital.
"I`m about to start dispatching aid to the residents of Najaf. Maybe that was why I was targeted, but I didn`t think serving people could be a reason," said a statement issued on behalf of Moumin by her office.
Her ministry simultaneously announced that each family in the besieged holy city, where a US-led Iraqi assault has encircled rebel Shiite militiamen, would be given a food basket and a first aid box, and drinking water would be distributed.
It referred to the bombing as an "accidental incident" although speaking to AFP, the human rights activist and former law professor acknowledged it was a suicide attack.
The phrase "criminal act" was clearly seen scratched out in the copy obtained by AFP.
At the education minister`s office, official Abdulkhaliq Nasir said: "at 8:30 am (0430 GMT), a roadside bomb exploded as the minister`s convoy was passing by. One of his guards was killed and two others were wounded."
The group of alleged Al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi claimed it carried out the attack on Moumin, according to an Islamist website.
"This morning, another knight of the martyrs` brigade struck at one of the pillars of the apostasy, namely the environment minister," said a statement posted on the website www.ansarnet.ws/vb.
"If today you have escaped our arrow, we have in our quiver other arrows from which you cannot escape," added the statement, signed by "the military wing of the Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War)" group.
The authenticity of the statement could not be verified.
Justice Minister Malek Dohan al-Hasan, 83, escaped a suicide attack on his motorcade which was claimed by Zarqawi on July 17.
On June 13, Kamal Jarrah, director of cultural relations at the education ministry, was gunned down in front of his home in the west of the capital as he left for work, a day after Iraq`s deputy foreign minister, Bassam Kubba, was shot dead in similar circumstances.