Two bomb attacks kill 35 outside Baghdad
Source: Agencies |
July 6, 2011, Wednesday
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A DEADLY combination of a car bomb and a roadside bombing in a town north of Baghdad killed at least 35 people and wounded 47 yesterday, Iraqi officials said.
The bombings are the latest in a series of insurgent attacks as the Iraqi government and political factions debate whether to officially request the United States to let some American troops stay in the country past their year-end withdrawal deadline.
While violence in Iraq is now well below levels it was at during intense Shiite-Sunni sectarian fighting in 2006 and 2007, militants have again stepped up deadly attacks. That has prompted concerns about what will happen when the 47,000 remaining US troops pull out.
Yesterday's attack started when insurgents first detonated a parked car bomb in the parking lot of the local council building in the town of Taji around noon, police officials said.
That blast was followed by a roadside bomb that went off as civilians and security forces gathered to help the victims from the first explosion, the officials said.
Ambulances rushed to the scene, where about 20 cars were on fire and burnt human bodies, some of them women, lay on the ground.
"The scene was awful ... some of the lightly wounded people were running in all directions, either crying or screaming for help," said a policeman who identified himself only by his nickname, Abu Haider.
Taji is a Sunni-dominated town about 20 kilometers north of Baghdad. Yesterday's attack followed the June 23 one when bombs ripped through Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad, killing at least 40 people.
The bombings are the latest in a series of insurgent attacks as the Iraqi government and political factions debate whether to officially request the United States to let some American troops stay in the country past their year-end withdrawal deadline.
While violence in Iraq is now well below levels it was at during intense Shiite-Sunni sectarian fighting in 2006 and 2007, militants have again stepped up deadly attacks. That has prompted concerns about what will happen when the 47,000 remaining US troops pull out.
Yesterday's attack started when insurgents first detonated a parked car bomb in the parking lot of the local council building in the town of Taji around noon, police officials said.
That blast was followed by a roadside bomb that went off as civilians and security forces gathered to help the victims from the first explosion, the officials said.
Ambulances rushed to the scene, where about 20 cars were on fire and burnt human bodies, some of them women, lay on the ground.
"The scene was awful ... some of the lightly wounded people were running in all directions, either crying or screaming for help," said a policeman who identified himself only by his nickname, Abu Haider.
Taji is a Sunni-dominated town about 20 kilometers north of Baghdad. Yesterday's attack followed the June 23 one when bombs ripped through Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad, killing at least 40 people.
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