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Suicide blast kills 40 Shiites, mostly women and children
Source: Agencies |
February 14, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
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A FEMALE suicide bomber attacked a tent filled with women and children resting from a pilgrimage to a Shiite holy city south of Baghdad yesterday, killing 40 people and injuring 60 others, said officials.
It was the deadliest attack in Iraq this year and the third straight day of bombings against Shiite pilgrims.
The tent where the bomber detonated her explosives was located on a route to Karbala, where hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims will converge for an important religious ceremony on Monday, said a police official.
Separate tents for men and women are set up along the road to Karbala to offer pilgrims food, drinks and a place to rest.
Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf confirmed the attack and said security officials were rushing to the scene, located between the cities of Mussayib and Iskandariyah about 60 kilometers south of Baghdad.
Mohammed Abbas, a medical official in Mussayib, said most of the dead and wounded from the attack were women and children.
Sadiya Kadom, a 40-year-old woman from Baghdad, said she was walking near the tent at the time of the explosion and suffered injuries to her legs and hands.
"It was a horrific scene with dead and screaming injured people on the ground," said Kadom.
Hussein Faris, a 39-year-old from Baghdad who lost his wife in the attack and was wounded in the stomach, said people at the scene panicked and a stampede began.
"I was so terrified," said Faris. "People nearby stampeded, and many were hurt by that."
The attacks against the pilgrims appear to be part of a Sunni extremist campaign to rekindle the sectarian conflict that nearly plunged Iraq into full-scale civil war two years ago.
On Thursday, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt packed with nails among Shiite worshippers in Karbala near the revered Imam Hussein shrine, killing eight pilgrims and wounding more than 50.
A day earlier, at least 12 people were killed and more than 40 wounded in bombings in Baghdad that targeted Shiite pilgrims traveling to Karbala, 80 kilometers to the south.
Iraqi officials have mounted an extensive security operation to protect the pilgrims, who will be celebrating Monday's end of 40 days of mourning that follow Ashoura, the anniversary of the seventh-century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein.
He was killed in a battle near Karbala for the leadership of the nascent Muslim nation following Muhammad's death in 632. His death led to the split between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
About 40,000 Iraqi troops have been deployed along major routes to Karbala, and officials say security cameras have been installed near the Imam Hussein shrine to keep a lookout for possible threats.
It was the deadliest attack in Iraq this year and the third straight day of bombings against Shiite pilgrims.
The tent where the bomber detonated her explosives was located on a route to Karbala, where hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims will converge for an important religious ceremony on Monday, said a police official.
Separate tents for men and women are set up along the road to Karbala to offer pilgrims food, drinks and a place to rest.
Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf confirmed the attack and said security officials were rushing to the scene, located between the cities of Mussayib and Iskandariyah about 60 kilometers south of Baghdad.
Mohammed Abbas, a medical official in Mussayib, said most of the dead and wounded from the attack were women and children.
Sadiya Kadom, a 40-year-old woman from Baghdad, said she was walking near the tent at the time of the explosion and suffered injuries to her legs and hands.
"It was a horrific scene with dead and screaming injured people on the ground," said Kadom.
Hussein Faris, a 39-year-old from Baghdad who lost his wife in the attack and was wounded in the stomach, said people at the scene panicked and a stampede began.
"I was so terrified," said Faris. "People nearby stampeded, and many were hurt by that."
The attacks against the pilgrims appear to be part of a Sunni extremist campaign to rekindle the sectarian conflict that nearly plunged Iraq into full-scale civil war two years ago.
On Thursday, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt packed with nails among Shiite worshippers in Karbala near the revered Imam Hussein shrine, killing eight pilgrims and wounding more than 50.
A day earlier, at least 12 people were killed and more than 40 wounded in bombings in Baghdad that targeted Shiite pilgrims traveling to Karbala, 80 kilometers to the south.
Iraqi officials have mounted an extensive security operation to protect the pilgrims, who will be celebrating Monday's end of 40 days of mourning that follow Ashoura, the anniversary of the seventh-century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein.
He was killed in a battle near Karbala for the leadership of the nascent Muslim nation following Muhammad's death in 632. His death led to the split between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
About 40,000 Iraqi troops have been deployed along major routes to Karbala, and officials say security cameras have been installed near the Imam Hussein shrine to keep a lookout for possible threats.
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