Conflicting Reports On Death Toll In Bombings In Baghdad

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
September 18, 2008
Pg. 16

By Sam Dagher
BAGHDAD — Eight people were killed and 25 wounded Wednesday in double bombings in a busy section of central Baghdad filled with currency exchange shops and medical clinics, according to an official at the Ministry of the Interior.
Other reports put the toll lower.
The first bomb exploded about 11:20 a.m., in an area called Al Harthiya, adjacent to the fortified Green Zone. Several witnesses said it appeared to have been placed in a pickup truck that belonged to Raad al-Maliki, a former member of the local municipal council and owner of one of the money changing businesses that dot the area. Mr. Maliki, who was inside his shop at the time, survived.
Almost five minutes after the first blast, a second bomb exploded about 300 feet away, next to a kiosk that sells cigarettes and soft drinks. Iraqi and American soldiers cordoned off the area and cut off traffic on one of the capital’s most congested thoroughfares, known as the Baghdad International Expo Street.
Smashed storefronts, bu[FONT=Times New Roman, Times]r[/FONT]ned vehicle remains and scattered debris were reminiscent of scenes that Baghdad residents have been anxious to forget.
A spokesman for the United States military, who placed blame for the attack on Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown terrorist group that the military says is led by foreigners, put the toll at three killed and 16 wounded. A source at Yarmouk Hospital, where some of the casualties were taken, gave a toll of five killed and 20 wounded. Discrepancies in tolls are common in Iraq.
“The security improvement is just in the media, it has nothing to do with reality,” said Ali Mahmoud, a grocery shop owner caught up in the bombings.
“The new commander of U.S. forces summed it up well: the security situation remains fragile,” Mr. Mahmoud said as a man nearby was busy hosing off the blood-splotched sidewalk. “This is the proof.” A lone black shoe of one victim lay on the street.
On Thursday just after midnight, five American soldiers were killed when their helicopter made a “hard landing” about 60 miles west of the southern city of Basra, The Associated Press reported. The cause is under investigation, according to an American statement.
On Wednesday, a roadside bomb on the east side of the city in the Zayouna neighborhood apparently aimed at Issam al-Tamimi, the municipal council chief of the Baghdad Jadida district, killed one passer-by and wounded the official’s driver, according to the Interior Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
Another roadside bomb in Zayouna, near the Culture Ministry, killed one person and wounded five, the official said.
The bombings in Baghdad come two days after a twin car bombing in another central neighborhood killed 12 and wounded 37. Bomb attacks, assassinations and shootings in all of Iraq, including Baghdad, have killed at least 90 and wounded dozens over the past week.
Still, overall levels of violence countrywide stand at their lowest in four years. Last month, there were 101 attacks in Baghdad compared with 800 in August 2007, according to figures provided by Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a spokesman for the United States military unit in charge of the capital.
But the bombings in central Baghdad underscore the fragility of the situation and reversibility of the recent security gains, which Gen. Ray Odierno, the new commander of United States troops in Iraq, warned of on Tuesday during a ceremony transferring command from Gen. David H. Petraeus.
In other violence Wednesday, a minibus traveling between the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk and the mainly Sunni Arab [FONT=Times New Roman, Times]town[/FONT] of Al Rashad was attacked by gunmen. Three of the occupants were killed and one was wounded, according to Lt. Abdullah al-Obeidi of the Rashad police.
In Parliament in Baghdad, deputies continued to wrangle over a proposal on the postponement of elections in Kirkuk Province, a hotly contested area between Kurds, Turkmens and Sunni Arabs. This issue has held up agreement on a new provincial election law.
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times]An employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Kirkuk, Iraq.[/FONT]
 
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