.Series of bombings in Baghdad Shiite areas kill 36
BAGHDAD (AP) - Six bombs rocked Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad on Monday, killing 36people and wounding more than 110 in a dramatic escalation of violence as the U.S. military is thinning out its presence before a June 30 deadline to pull combat troops out of the cities.
Angry survivors hurled stones at Iraqi soldiers at the site of one of the blasts in Sadr City after troops fired shots in the air to disperse crowds of people trying to care for the injured, witnesses said.
No group claimed responsibility. But a U.S. military spokesman said the attacks appeared to be a coordinated assault by al-Qaida, saying the nature of the targets was consistent with past attacks.
Twelve people were killed in a market in western Baghdad when two car bombs exploded almost simultaneously, while 32 others were wounded, an Iraqi police official said.
Burned hulks of cars and twisted metal were scattered across the marketplace, as Iraqi soldiers and police officers surrounded the bombing site, driving off onlookers and journalists.
The day's violence started with a car bomb at 7:30 a.m. in the center of the capital that killed at least six people and wounded 17, said a police official, who said most of the victims were day laborers seeking work.
Later, a bomb in a parked car exploded at a market in the Shiite slum of Sadr City, also killed 12 people, including three women and four children, and wounded 37 others, said Iraqi police and medical officials. Within minutes, another bomb went off at another eastern Baghdad market, killing three more people and wounding 15, said a security official.
A roadside bomb targeting a three-vehicle police convoy carrying an Interior Ministry official in eastern Baghdad killed three people, including two of the official's guards, and wounded 12 others, said another police official.
Anger against Iraqi security forces boiled up after the blast in Sadr City, scene of heavy fighting last year between U.S.-Iraqi forces and militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Adnan al-Sudani, 37, said he and others rushed to the scene of the blast as black smoke billowed from the bombing site.
"We saw several people dead, and some were burned. We began to lift them along with the wounded into civilian cars to take them to nearby hospitals," he said. "When Iraqi army forces arrived, they began firing randomly on people to disperse them. But angry people began to throw stones at them."
U.S. officials insist that violence has fallen by 90 percent since the high point in 2007, but a recent uptick in attacks has raised concern that extremists may be regrouping.
"The nature of the attacks and targets are consistent with past al-Qaida in Iraq attacks," said a U.S. spokesman, Maj. David Shoupe. "We see this as a coordinated attack by terrorists against predominantly Shia targets that they gauge as vulnerable to instigate sectarian violence."
The U.S. military has begun to remove troops from Baghdad before the June 30 deadline for leaving the cities, as required by the U.S.-Iraq security agreement that took effect this year.
Tension has been increasing in Baghdad in recent weeks between the Shiite-led government and mostly Sunni paramilitary groups that the U.S. organized to provide security in their neighborhoods.
Last month, Iraqi troops put down an uprising by a paramilitary group in central Baghdad that began after their leader was arrested. The paramilitaries, known as Awakening Councils or Sons of Iraq, also complain that a number of their members have been arrested in what they fear is an attempt to marginalize them.
Also Monday, the U.S. military announced that a U.S. soldier was killed in action the day before in Diyala province, where insurgents remain active.
It was the first combat death suffered by U.S. forces in Iraq since March 16, when a soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.
Also in Diyala province, unidentified gunmen killed two Kurds Sunday night in a drive-by shooting in Jalula, 80 miles (125 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, Iraqi army Capt. Sarjo Ahmed said Monday.
MyWay
The class of 09 has arrived, and It appears they can make a fuse.
Angry survivors hurled stones at Iraqi soldiers at the site of one of the blasts in Sadr City after troops fired shots in the air to disperse crowds of people trying to care for the injured, witnesses said.
No group claimed responsibility. But a U.S. military spokesman said the attacks appeared to be a coordinated assault by al-Qaida, saying the nature of the targets was consistent with past attacks.
Twelve people were killed in a market in western Baghdad when two car bombs exploded almost simultaneously, while 32 others were wounded, an Iraqi police official said.
Burned hulks of cars and twisted metal were scattered across the marketplace, as Iraqi soldiers and police officers surrounded the bombing site, driving off onlookers and journalists.
The day's violence started with a car bomb at 7:30 a.m. in the center of the capital that killed at least six people and wounded 17, said a police official, who said most of the victims were day laborers seeking work.
Later, a bomb in a parked car exploded at a market in the Shiite slum of Sadr City, also killed 12 people, including three women and four children, and wounded 37 others, said Iraqi police and medical officials. Within minutes, another bomb went off at another eastern Baghdad market, killing three more people and wounding 15, said a security official.
A roadside bomb targeting a three-vehicle police convoy carrying an Interior Ministry official in eastern Baghdad killed three people, including two of the official's guards, and wounded 12 others, said another police official.
Anger against Iraqi security forces boiled up after the blast in Sadr City, scene of heavy fighting last year between U.S.-Iraqi forces and militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Adnan al-Sudani, 37, said he and others rushed to the scene of the blast as black smoke billowed from the bombing site.
"We saw several people dead, and some were burned. We began to lift them along with the wounded into civilian cars to take them to nearby hospitals," he said. "When Iraqi army forces arrived, they began firing randomly on people to disperse them. But angry people began to throw stones at them."
U.S. officials insist that violence has fallen by 90 percent since the high point in 2007, but a recent uptick in attacks has raised concern that extremists may be regrouping.
"The nature of the attacks and targets are consistent with past al-Qaida in Iraq attacks," said a U.S. spokesman, Maj. David Shoupe. "We see this as a coordinated attack by terrorists against predominantly Shia targets that they gauge as vulnerable to instigate sectarian violence."
The U.S. military has begun to remove troops from Baghdad before the June 30 deadline for leaving the cities, as required by the U.S.-Iraq security agreement that took effect this year.
Tension has been increasing in Baghdad in recent weeks between the Shiite-led government and mostly Sunni paramilitary groups that the U.S. organized to provide security in their neighborhoods.
Last month, Iraqi troops put down an uprising by a paramilitary group in central Baghdad that began after their leader was arrested. The paramilitaries, known as Awakening Councils or Sons of Iraq, also complain that a number of their members have been arrested in what they fear is an attempt to marginalize them.
Also Monday, the U.S. military announced that a U.S. soldier was killed in action the day before in Diyala province, where insurgents remain active.
It was the first combat death suffered by U.S. forces in Iraq since March 16, when a soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.
Also in Diyala province, unidentified gunmen killed two Kurds Sunday night in a drive-by shooting in Jalula, 80 miles (125 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, Iraqi army Capt. Sarjo Ahmed said Monday.
MyWay
The class of 09 has arrived, and It appears they can make a fuse.
posted by madtom at 5:47 PM
4 Comments:
As I said earlier Mad Tom, Sunni Supremacism versus Shia Theocracy.
Since the country wasn't secularized, the war is on, somewhat of a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, but on nevertheless. And there isn't much the US can do about it. Baghdad is the fabled capital of the Sunni caliphate and now its controlled by those hated Shia heretics, who are Islamacist jihadists in their own right.
You missed the big news though, Jeffrey is shutting down IBC. But no one silences Mister Ghost...
Well Jeffreys loss might become our gain. Your always welcome to post here.
Look I know what your saying, but don't you think that the people might have something to say about the proxy war? I don't count them out as easy as you. But I do see your point, and I am expecting the war to flare up on all fronts...all fronts.
Mad Tom,
Thanks very much for your kind words )))
It's very disappointing what Jeffrey's doing because he's not the only one there.
Any ways, the mitigating factors keeping the Iraqi pressure cooker from blowing have been removed. The seculars: Jews, Christians, Mandaeans, Secular Sunni and Shia - are gone from Iraq. You now have an angry Sunni underclass and a theocratic Shia overclass. And a weakened central government to keep
things in check. I will say that the Shia will probably maintain their hold on power since the Sunnis are squeezed between them and the Kurds, but you're going to see many more bombings to come and a guerilla style war.
Do you think that war would stay contained in Iraq?
Assuming a US withdrawal.
Post a Comment
<< Home