Iraq violence claims more than 50 lives

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Media: The Associated Press
Byline: By ELENA BECATOROS
Date: 28 August 2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq_A roadside bomb killed four American soldiers in Baghdad, the
U.S. military said Monday, as an upsurge of violence left 50 Iraqis dead,
undercutting the prime minister's claim that government forces are
prevailing over insurgents and sectarian extremists.

The American soldiers died Sunday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in
northern Baghdad, the U.S. military command said in a statement.

The military had earlier reported the deaths of two other American soldiers
on Sunday and one on Saturday, making it one of the deadliest weekends for
the U.S. military. More than 2,600 U.S. military personnel have died since
the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated
Press Count.

Some 10,000 Iraqis have been killed in the last four months alone in
unrelenting attacks by Sunni and Shiite extremists on each other's
communities, as well as bombings and shootings by Sunni Arab insurgents.

More than 50 people were killed on Sunday in a wave of bombings and
shootings across Iraq, stretching from the northern city of Kirkuk to the
capital Baghdad and down to the south in Basra.

In one of the deadliest attacks, a group of assailants in three cars opened
fire at an open-air night market in Khalis, a mostly Shiite town 50 miles
(80 kilometers) north of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people and wounding 25
others, police said.

A security camera atop the Palestine Hotel in downtown Baghdad recorded
dramatic pictures of a commuter bus exploding on a street. An Iraqi
government statement received Monday said the explosion was caused by a
suicide bomber in the minibus, and said eight people on board were killed
and 18 injured.

The jerky security video showed the minibus traveling down the street and
pulling over under a tree on the sidewalk, apparently to pick up passengers.
A moment later, a huge ball of fire erupts and other cars are seen skidding
and veering.

One apparently shaken driver is seen running over the divider and speeding
away on the wrong side of the road to escape the aftermath of the blast.

On Sunday evening, two back-to-back suicide car bombings in the northern
city of Kirkuk killed nine people and wounded 22, hours after another
suicide car bomb killed one person and wounded 16.

In Basra, Iraq's second largest city, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast
of Baghdad, a motorcycle bomb at a night market killed four people and
wounded 15, the governor's office said.

Still, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki insisted that his government, which
took office in May, was making progress in combatting attacks by insurgents
and sectarian clashes between Shiites and Sunnis.

"We're not in a civil war. Iraq will never be in a civil war," he said
through an interpreter on CNN's "Late Edition." "The violence is in decrease
and our security ability is increasing."

Asked about U.S. allegations that Iran is supporting Iraqi groups involved
in sectarian violence, al-Maliki said the reports were being investigated.

He said Iraqi authorities were in contact with Iran in order to determine
the veracity of the information "and to prevent this interference."
 
Back
Top