Over 50 die in twin Iraq blasts
Source: Agencies |
January 21, 2011, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A PAIR of car bombs blasted through security checkpoints ringing the Iraqi holy city of Karbala yesterday and killed at least 51 people, most of whom were Shiite pilgrims headed to observe yearly religious rituals.
It was the latest in a wave of attacks in recent days, as insurgents test Iraqi security forces ahead of the planned US withdrawal at the end of the year.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the bombings bore the hallmark of al-Qaida and other Sunni-dominated extremist groups that frequently target Shiite pilgrimages in hopes of re-igniting sectarian violence that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war just a few years ago.
Authorities said as many as 183 people were injured in the near-simultaneous blasts set off by suicide bombers driving cars packed with explosives.
Ali Khamas, a pilgrim from the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in Baghdad, said he saw a car speeding toward one of the checkpoints, its driver refusing to stop despite warnings screamed by Iraqi soldiers.
"He sped up and blew up his car near the checkpoint," said Khamas. "After the explosion, people started to run in all directions, while wounded people on the ground were screaming for help. I saw several dead bodies on the ground."
Still, Khamas said, the pilgrims continued to head to Karbala: "It will not deter us from continuing our march to the holy shrine ... even if the explosions increase."
Crowds of pilgrims headed to a Karbala hospital to donate blood for the wounded. Authorities said 11 soldiers and policemen were among the dead, the rest were pilgrims.
The series of attacks this week shattered a relative calm since the formation last month of a new government under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite whose family comes from the Karbala area.
Attacks against Shiite pilgrims have been a tactic of Sunni extremists since the early years of the Iraq conflict. Shiite politicians encouraged huge turnouts at religious celebrations to display the power of the Shiite majority after the fall of the Sunni-dominated regime of Saddam Hussein.
It was the latest in a wave of attacks in recent days, as insurgents test Iraqi security forces ahead of the planned US withdrawal at the end of the year.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the bombings bore the hallmark of al-Qaida and other Sunni-dominated extremist groups that frequently target Shiite pilgrimages in hopes of re-igniting sectarian violence that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war just a few years ago.
Authorities said as many as 183 people were injured in the near-simultaneous blasts set off by suicide bombers driving cars packed with explosives.
Ali Khamas, a pilgrim from the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in Baghdad, said he saw a car speeding toward one of the checkpoints, its driver refusing to stop despite warnings screamed by Iraqi soldiers.
"He sped up and blew up his car near the checkpoint," said Khamas. "After the explosion, people started to run in all directions, while wounded people on the ground were screaming for help. I saw several dead bodies on the ground."
Still, Khamas said, the pilgrims continued to head to Karbala: "It will not deter us from continuing our march to the holy shrine ... even if the explosions increase."
Crowds of pilgrims headed to a Karbala hospital to donate blood for the wounded. Authorities said 11 soldiers and policemen were among the dead, the rest were pilgrims.
The series of attacks this week shattered a relative calm since the formation last month of a new government under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite whose family comes from the Karbala area.
Attacks against Shiite pilgrims have been a tactic of Sunni extremists since the early years of the Iraq conflict. Shiite politicians encouraged huge turnouts at religious celebrations to display the power of the Shiite majority after the fall of the Sunni-dominated regime of Saddam Hussein.
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