65 dead in Iraq car bombings
Source: Agencies |
June 14, 2012, Thursday
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A WAVE of car bombs struck Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad and several other cities yesterday, killing at least 65 people and wounding more than 200 in one of the deadliest days in Iraq.
Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but they bore the hallmarks of Sunni insurgents who frequently target Shiites in Iraq.
Yesterday's blasts were the third this week targeting the annual pilgrimage that sees hundreds of thousands of Shiites converge on a golden-domed shrine in Baghdad's northern neighborhood of Kazimiyah to commemorate the eighth century death of a revered Shiite saint, Imam Moussa al-Kadhim.
Puddles of blood and shards of metal clogged a drainage ditch at the site of one of the bombings in the city of Hillah, where hours before pilgrims had been marching. Soldiers and dazed onlookers wandered near the charred remains of the car that had exploded and ripped gaping holes in nearby shops.
Most of the 16 separate but coordinated explosions that rocked the country targeted Shiite pilgrims in five cities, but two hit offices of political parties linked to Iraq's Kurdish minority in the tense north.
"These violent acts reflect the depth of the political crisis in the country and the escalation of political differences among blocs," said politician Abdul-Sataar al-Jumaili of the Sunni political bloc Iraqiya.
Baghdad military command spokesman Colonel Dhia al-Wakeel said the attacks were intended to reignite all-out sectarian bloodshed, "but Iraqis are fully aware of the terrorism agenda and will not slip into a sectarian conflict."
The first bomb struck a procession at around 5am in the town of Taji, north of Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding two others.
That was followed by four more morning blasts that hit other groups of pilgrims across the capital, killing 25 people and wounding more than 70.
South of Baghdad, two car bombs exploded minutes apart at dawn in the center of the mainly Shiite city of Hillah, killing 21 people and wounding 53.
A car bomb also exploded near a group of pilgrims in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 90 kilometers south of Baghdad, at about 8am, killing two people and wounding 22 others.
In the Shiite town of Balad, 80 kilometers north of Baghdad, two nearly simultaneous car bombs killed seven pilgrims and wounded 34.
Explosions also targeted Iraqi Kurds in the north.
One person was killed as three blasts rocked the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, one of them outside the local office of Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani's political party.
Another car bomb targeted an office of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in the northern city of Mosul, killing two people and wounding four.
Two other explosions wounded five people elsewhere in Mosul, about 360 kilometers northwest of Baghdad.
Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but they bore the hallmarks of Sunni insurgents who frequently target Shiites in Iraq.
Yesterday's blasts were the third this week targeting the annual pilgrimage that sees hundreds of thousands of Shiites converge on a golden-domed shrine in Baghdad's northern neighborhood of Kazimiyah to commemorate the eighth century death of a revered Shiite saint, Imam Moussa al-Kadhim.
Puddles of blood and shards of metal clogged a drainage ditch at the site of one of the bombings in the city of Hillah, where hours before pilgrims had been marching. Soldiers and dazed onlookers wandered near the charred remains of the car that had exploded and ripped gaping holes in nearby shops.
Most of the 16 separate but coordinated explosions that rocked the country targeted Shiite pilgrims in five cities, but two hit offices of political parties linked to Iraq's Kurdish minority in the tense north.
"These violent acts reflect the depth of the political crisis in the country and the escalation of political differences among blocs," said politician Abdul-Sataar al-Jumaili of the Sunni political bloc Iraqiya.
Baghdad military command spokesman Colonel Dhia al-Wakeel said the attacks were intended to reignite all-out sectarian bloodshed, "but Iraqis are fully aware of the terrorism agenda and will not slip into a sectarian conflict."
The first bomb struck a procession at around 5am in the town of Taji, north of Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding two others.
That was followed by four more morning blasts that hit other groups of pilgrims across the capital, killing 25 people and wounding more than 70.
South of Baghdad, two car bombs exploded minutes apart at dawn in the center of the mainly Shiite city of Hillah, killing 21 people and wounding 53.
A car bomb also exploded near a group of pilgrims in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 90 kilometers south of Baghdad, at about 8am, killing two people and wounding 22 others.
In the Shiite town of Balad, 80 kilometers north of Baghdad, two nearly simultaneous car bombs killed seven pilgrims and wounded 34.
Explosions also targeted Iraqi Kurds in the north.
One person was killed as three blasts rocked the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, one of them outside the local office of Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani's political party.
Another car bomb targeted an office of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in the northern city of Mosul, killing two people and wounding four.
Two other explosions wounded five people elsewhere in Mosul, about 360 kilometers northwest of Baghdad.
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