New Iraq Carnage Kills 4 More
Friday, Mar. 07, 2008 By AP/ (BAGHDAD) — Bombings in the northern city of Mosul, an al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold, killed at least four people and wounded 46 on Friday, officials said, while relatives mourned the victims of an attack that killed 68 in a Baghdad shopping district.
The carnage was a grim reminder of the continuing danger in Iraq, which nonetheless has seen major security gains in the last half-year.
An extremist detonated an explosives-laden car outside a police station's front gate in Mosul, killing at least three and wounding 32, authorities said.
The U.S. military said two Iraqi police were killed and one civilian, and that 12 officers were among the wounded. A local police officer, however, put the death toll at four, all officers, and the wounded at 33.
Meanwhile, a provincial police officer said twin bombings in the central part of the city killed one person and injured 14 others. The officers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. Mosul is the focus of a joint U.S.-Iraqi military campaign to force al-Qaida in Iraq out of what the military describes as its last major urban stronghold.
Al-Qaida in Iraq was blamed for Thursday's attack in the primarily Shiite, middle-class Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah, where back-to-back bombings killed 68 people and wounded 120.
Cleaning crews swept debris and cleaned blood from the site in the shopping and residential district. Shop owners inspected the damage.
Though there were no claims of responsibility, double bombings to maximize casualties have been a hallmark of al-Qaida in Iraq. The tactic seeks to draw in people, especially rescue workers, with the first blast before a second bomb detonates. "This was definitely AQI and we know who the cell leader is. He and his dogs are all targets," said military spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Stover.
Iraqis were enjoying a pleasant spring evening when the roadside bomb hidden under a vendor stall detonated. Five minutes later, a suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt detonated, Mohammed al-Rubaie, the head of the Karradah municipality, told the state-run Al-Iraqiya TV.
Interior Ministry officials said Friday that 68 people were killed and 120 injured after several people died from their injuries overnight.
Hassan Abdullah, 25, who owns a clothing shop in the area, said he was walking to the site of the first blast to see what happened when the second bomb went off. "I saw a leg and a hand falling near me as I was walking. The whole place was a mess. Wounded people were crying for help, and people started to run away," he said. "The aim of such attacks is the random killing of as many people as possible in order to terrorize Iraqi people."
Many of the victims were teens or young adults, officials said.
At one funeral Friday, family members mourned the death of a 17-year-old Christian man. Several young men carried his wooden coffin out of his family's home and down the street as family members walked behind. "I lost my son. It breaks my heart," said the man's father.
Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub and Hamed Ahmed contributed to this report.
AI
