69 killed in Iraq bombings

Saturday, April 24, 2010

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A series of bombings mainly targeting Shiite worshippers killed at least 69 people on yesterday, officials said, just days after US and Iraqi forces killed the top two al-Qaida leaders in Iraq in what was described as a devastating blow to the insurgency.

The apparently coordinated attack, which occurred in a two-hour timespan, demonstrated insurgents remain a potent force despite US and Iraqi claims that the terror network is on the run.

Officials have warned insurgents remain capable of staging high-profile bombings in a bid to re-ignite sectarian tensions that pushed the country to the brink of civil war.

Extremists are also seeking to exploit political deadlock after the inconclusive March 7, parliamentary election as US forces prepare to go withdraw from the country by the end of 2011.

At least 10 car bombs and roadside attacks struck the capital, according to Iraqi police. No suicide bombings -- an al-Qaida trademark -- were reported but Iraqi authorities were quick to blame the Sunni-led terror network, which frequently targets Shiites.

The deadliest attack took place near the Baghdad headquarters of anti-US Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the vast slum of Sadr City as Friday prayers were ending at about 1:30 p.m.

At least two car bombs exploded a few hundred yards (meters) from the compound, ripping through the area as men were kneeling on prayer mats in the street outside the mosque, according to police and witnesses.

As people fled the scene, at least two more bombs exploded in a parking lot where many had left their vehicles.

At least 36 people were killed and almost 200 wounded, according to hospital and police officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Onlookers threw stones at arriving Iraqi security forces, frustrated with their apparent inability to secure the city. Iraqi troops fired their guns in the air to scatter the crowd.

"I saw a huge ball of fire after the explosion," said Ali Salim, 28, a book and stationery seller. He was knocked out and woke up in the Sadr City hospital, which was overcrowded with victims, including injured women and children who had to sit on the floor.

Blood mixed with water used by firefighters to put out the burning cars streamed down muddy streets, and flames shot out of cars and motorcycles in the parking lot. Passers-by frantically tried to help firefighters put out the flames. Shouting men loaded the wounded from stretchers made of bed sheets onto the backs of trucks to rush them to the hospital.

One man fled carrying a young girl whose pink dress was stained with blood. Others could been seen picking up human remains that were scattered on the streets.

The violence began shortly after the call to prayer resounded across the capital at about 11:15 am with two bombs exploding in the mainly Shiite neighborhood of Zafaraniyah, killing one person and wounding 12.

A car bomb later killed eight people and wounded 19 near a Shiite mosque in the northern Hurriyah neighborhood, while another killed 14 and wounded 36 in the eastern neighborhood of Amin al-Thaniyah.

The major blasts all occurred in former Shiite militia strongholds, underscoring the insurgents' aim of provoking a new round of sectarian bloodshed.