Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
BAGHDAD, Nov 2 (AFP) - At least 21 people were killed and 61 wounded when a
car bomb exploded Wednesday in the Shiite town of Musayyib, 55 kilometers
(36 miles) south of the Iraqi capital, security and hospital sources said.
The bombing took place on the eve of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr, which
marks the end of the dawn-to-dusk fasting month of Ramadan.
It was carried out using a minibus packed with explosives that blew up at
5:20 pm (1420 GMT) "near a Shiite mosque and a market just ahead of prayers
marking the end of the Ramadan fast," said police Captain Ahmed Naimi in the
nearby provincial capital of Hilla.
The car bomb was set off at sundown at the same place where at least 83
people were killed and 153 injured when a suicide bomber set off a massive
fireball on July 16 as worshippers gathered for prayers.
The bomber in that attack blew himself up next to a liquified tanker, and
the blast torched some 20 cars, destroyed about 40 shops and set nearby
buildings on fire.
On Monday a car bomb killed 18 people in the normally quiet southern port
city of Basra, ripping through a market packed with shoppers preparing for
the Muslim holidays.
And on Saturday a bomb hidden in a truck packed with dates exploded in a
market in the Shiite village of Huwaider, some 60 kilometres (35 miles)
north of Baghdad, killing at least 26 and injured 45.
That attack, like the Wednesday and Monday attacks, came minutes before the
start of evening prayers at the nearby mosque and the breaking of the
day-long Ramadan fast.
The bombings are apparently the work of Sunni Arab radicals bent on sparking
a sectarian war with the Shiite Muslims in the run-up to the December
legislative elections.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq, an insurgent group controlled by Sunni extremist Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, declared open war on the Shiite community in September.
car bomb exploded Wednesday in the Shiite town of Musayyib, 55 kilometers
(36 miles) south of the Iraqi capital, security and hospital sources said.
The bombing took place on the eve of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr, which
marks the end of the dawn-to-dusk fasting month of Ramadan.
It was carried out using a minibus packed with explosives that blew up at
5:20 pm (1420 GMT) "near a Shiite mosque and a market just ahead of prayers
marking the end of the Ramadan fast," said police Captain Ahmed Naimi in the
nearby provincial capital of Hilla.
The car bomb was set off at sundown at the same place where at least 83
people were killed and 153 injured when a suicide bomber set off a massive
fireball on July 16 as worshippers gathered for prayers.
The bomber in that attack blew himself up next to a liquified tanker, and
the blast torched some 20 cars, destroyed about 40 shops and set nearby
buildings on fire.
On Monday a car bomb killed 18 people in the normally quiet southern port
city of Basra, ripping through a market packed with shoppers preparing for
the Muslim holidays.
And on Saturday a bomb hidden in a truck packed with dates exploded in a
market in the Shiite village of Huwaider, some 60 kilometres (35 miles)
north of Baghdad, killing at least 26 and injured 45.
That attack, like the Wednesday and Monday attacks, came minutes before the
start of evening prayers at the nearby mosque and the breaking of the
day-long Ramadan fast.
The bombings are apparently the work of Sunni Arab radicals bent on sparking
a sectarian war with the Shiite Muslims in the run-up to the December
legislative elections.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq, an insurgent group controlled by Sunni extremist Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, declared open war on the Shiite community in September.