Suicide bombers kill 37 in Baghdad
Source: Agencies |
January 26, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SUICIDE bombers struck near three Baghdad hotels popular with Western journalists and businessmen yesterday just as Iraq announced the execution of Saddam Hussein's notorious cousin known as "Chemical Ali." At least 37 people were killed and more than 104 injured, security officials said.
The blasts - coming in a span of about 15 minutes in downtown Baghdad - came shortly before state television announced that Ali Hassan al-Majid had been hanged.
There was no claim of responsibility for the latest major attacks in Baghdad - about six weeks after a series of blasts killed 127 and brought outcry against Iraq's government for repeated security lapses as United States soldiers withdraw.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the latest bombings "represent an extension" of the activities of insurgents linked to Saddam's regime. But he stopped short of declaring the blast as possible revenge for the execution.
The first explosion struck at about 3:40pm in the parking lot of the Sheraton Hotel, toppling high concrete blast walls protecting the site and damaging a number of buildings along the Abu Nawas esplanade across the Tigris River from the Green Zone.
Two other blasts followed minutes later, striking near the Babylon Hotel and Hamra Hotel, which is popular with Western journalists and foreign security contractors.
According to initial tallies, 15 of the victims were at the Hamra, 14 at the Sheraton, and the remaining 8 died at the Babylon, including two policemen.
Outside the Sheraton, a high-rise tower with views of the Tigris River and the fortified Green Zone on the other side, the blast left a three-meter crater in the parking lot.
The force of the explosion was strong enough to topple a row of three-meter concrete blast walls along the road.
Iraqi police sealed the area and Iraqi helicopters circled overhead.
At the Hamra, two men in a car opened fire on guards at the hotel checkpoint, a third police official said. The guards took cover and returned fire when the car exploded, he said.
Baghdad's top military spokesman, Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, said suicide bombers were involved in all three attacks.
The explosions came hours after an Iraqi security official defended a bomb-detecting device that Britain banned for export to Iraq because of questions about whether it works, saying it would be a "big mistake" to withdraw it from checkpoints.
Guards at checkpoints near both the Sheraton and the Hamra are equipped with the detectors.
The ADE651 is used at security points across Iraq. Britain halted the export of the machine to Iraq and Afghanistan after a BBC report challenged its effectiveness.
But Colonel Hato al-Hashemi, a senior explosives expert at the Interior Ministry, said the estimated 2,000 devices used by Iraqi security forces would not be taken out of service.
Government spokesman al-Dabbagh confirmed the execution of "Chemical Ali."
The execution took place after he was sentenced to death last week for poison gas attacks that killed about 5,000 Kurds in Halabja in 1988.
The blasts - coming in a span of about 15 minutes in downtown Baghdad - came shortly before state television announced that Ali Hassan al-Majid had been hanged.
There was no claim of responsibility for the latest major attacks in Baghdad - about six weeks after a series of blasts killed 127 and brought outcry against Iraq's government for repeated security lapses as United States soldiers withdraw.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the latest bombings "represent an extension" of the activities of insurgents linked to Saddam's regime. But he stopped short of declaring the blast as possible revenge for the execution.
The first explosion struck at about 3:40pm in the parking lot of the Sheraton Hotel, toppling high concrete blast walls protecting the site and damaging a number of buildings along the Abu Nawas esplanade across the Tigris River from the Green Zone.
Two other blasts followed minutes later, striking near the Babylon Hotel and Hamra Hotel, which is popular with Western journalists and foreign security contractors.
According to initial tallies, 15 of the victims were at the Hamra, 14 at the Sheraton, and the remaining 8 died at the Babylon, including two policemen.
Outside the Sheraton, a high-rise tower with views of the Tigris River and the fortified Green Zone on the other side, the blast left a three-meter crater in the parking lot.
The force of the explosion was strong enough to topple a row of three-meter concrete blast walls along the road.
Iraqi police sealed the area and Iraqi helicopters circled overhead.
At the Hamra, two men in a car opened fire on guards at the hotel checkpoint, a third police official said. The guards took cover and returned fire when the car exploded, he said.
Baghdad's top military spokesman, Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, said suicide bombers were involved in all three attacks.
The explosions came hours after an Iraqi security official defended a bomb-detecting device that Britain banned for export to Iraq because of questions about whether it works, saying it would be a "big mistake" to withdraw it from checkpoints.
Guards at checkpoints near both the Sheraton and the Hamra are equipped with the detectors.
The ADE651 is used at security points across Iraq. Britain halted the export of the machine to Iraq and Afghanistan after a BBC report challenged its effectiveness.
But Colonel Hato al-Hashemi, a senior explosives expert at the Interior Ministry, said the estimated 2,000 devices used by Iraqi security forces would not be taken out of service.
Government spokesman al-Dabbagh confirmed the execution of "Chemical Ali."
The execution took place after he was sentenced to death last week for poison gas attacks that killed about 5,000 Kurds in Halabja in 1988.
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