Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Post
April 16, 2008
Pg. 10
By Ernesto Londono, Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, April 15 -- Two bombings killed nearly 60 people Tuesday in parts of Iraq where U.S. and Iraqi forces have claimed significant success in combating Sunni insurgent groups.
A car bombing in central Baqubah, the capital of northeastern Diyala province, killed at least 47 people, an Iraqi military spokesman said. A suicide bomber in Ramadi, west of Baghdad in Anbar province, killed at least 10 people at a restaurant frequented by police, according to local officials. Bombs also exploded in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, but the U.S. military said those blasts did not cause fatalities.
The U.S. military said the bombings in Baqubah and Ramadi appeared to have been carried out by al-Qaeda in Iraq, a predominantly homegrown Sunni insurgent group that has often targeted policemen and other representatives of Iraq's Shiite-led government.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq has conducted fewer attacks in recent months and seemed to have lost influence as a result of U.S.-led military operations and campaigns to turn the local population against the insurgency. American officials have warned that the group remains a potent threat.
U.S. and Iraqi commanders have focused lately on Shiite militias, after an Iraqi-led offensive in the southern city of Basra late last month that sparked violent resistance from militia members there and in Baghdad.
Iraqi officials in Diyala said Tuesday evening that the bomb, which was hidden in a Chevrolet sedan parked in a busy area known as Old Baqubah, also wounded 82 people. Earlier in the day, the U.S. military said the blast had killed 36 people and injured 67.
The victims included women and children, and many of the injured were in critical condition Tuesday, said Col. Ali Jassem, a spokesman for a local military center staffed by Iraqi and U.S. military personnel.
Jassem called the bombing the "most devastating attack to have taken place in Diyala since 2003," and noted that the assailants penetrated an area that was considered relatively secure.
"Half of the dead people are still at the Baqubah morgue because it is so hard to identify their bodies," Jassem said.
The bomb detonated at approximately 12:30 p.m. as people were filling out government forms at a nearby courthouse. It destroyed 15 vehicles, set 13 shops on fire and killed people in buses driving past the sedan at the time of the blast, Iraqi officials said.
The bomb killed at least one policeman and damaged a restaurant frequented by members of Iraq's security forces, Jassem said. Courthouses have been targeted in the past by Sunni insurgents, who reject the legitimacy of Iraq's government.
Courthouses have become busy in recent weeks because scores of Iraqis have filed applications to get loved ones released from government custody under a recently approved amnesty law.
Abdullah Jabar al-Qaisi, one of the people wounded in Baqubah, said he had been heading to court to fill out paperwork to secure the release of his brother.
"I heard a loud Wham! that lifted me to the air and threw me back on the ground," he said. "I saw body pieces and human bodies flying and slapping the ground."
Jassem Muhsin Alwan, a doctor at a Baqubah hospital, said more than 85 people were being treated there. "Many families are still coming around looking for their sons," he said.
The attacks came shortly after the release of a recorded message attributed to Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni umbrella organization believed to have been founded by al-Qaeda in Iraq. The message was uploaded on a Web site frequently used by the Islamic State of Iraq to communicate with its followers.
The message urged people to break ties with Iraqi security forces and Awakening councils, groups made up of Sunnis who oppose extremists. It encouraged supporters to step up attacks against U.S. forces and also Iraqis working with them. The authenticity of the message could not be confirmed.
U.S. military officials in Baqubah said violence in the area has dropped by 80 percent since June. Capt. Stephen Bomar, a U.S. military spokesman, called the bombing a "random act of violence from a desperate enemy."
In Ramadi, at least 10 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a restaurant, according to Tariq Yousif al-Asal al-Dulaimi, a police commander. "University students and policemen usually attend this restaurant," he said.
A patron who was injured in that attack said the bomber walked into the restaurant wearing a dishdasha, a long tunic commonly worn by Arab men. A waiter invited him to take a seat anywhere he wanted.
After screaming "God is great," the bomber "blew himself up," said the diner, Fawzi Mohammed al-Swedawi, 43.
In Mosul, where U.S. officials said members of al-Qaeda in Iraq have gathered after leaving other parts of the country, a roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi police checkpoint at approximately 3:45 p.m. as a U.S. military convoy was passing through, a U.S. military spokeswoman said. As the first responders approached the scene, a car bomb exploded. Three Iraqi policemen and 15 civilians were wounded.
"The enemy continues to maim innocent civilians and harm those trying to come to their aid," Maj. Peggy Kageleiry, a U.S. military spokeswoman, said by e-mail. "It's cruel and inhuman, and despite this, new recruits are continuing to come into" Iraqi security forces.
In the central Baghdad district of Rusafa, a car bomb wounded 11 people, the U.S. military said.
Meanwhile, in Karbala, south of Baghdad, suspected Shiite militia members kidnapped six Iraqi soldiers, said Rahman Imshawir, a police spokesman in the city.
Five of the soldiers were killed and showed signs of torture, according to Salim Kadhim, the director of Karbala's health department.
"We have received five dead bodies of the soldiers," he said. "Their arms and legs were broken, and they were shot in the head and the chest."
In the south, three aides to Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, escaped assassination in separate attacks Tuesday, although two of them were seriously wounded, the Associated Press reported.
Special correspondents Zaid Sabah, K.I. Ibrahim and Naseer Nouri in Baghdad and Saad Sarhan in Najaf contributed to this report.
April 16, 2008
Pg. 10
By Ernesto Londono, Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, April 15 -- Two bombings killed nearly 60 people Tuesday in parts of Iraq where U.S. and Iraqi forces have claimed significant success in combating Sunni insurgent groups.
A car bombing in central Baqubah, the capital of northeastern Diyala province, killed at least 47 people, an Iraqi military spokesman said. A suicide bomber in Ramadi, west of Baghdad in Anbar province, killed at least 10 people at a restaurant frequented by police, according to local officials. Bombs also exploded in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, but the U.S. military said those blasts did not cause fatalities.
The U.S. military said the bombings in Baqubah and Ramadi appeared to have been carried out by al-Qaeda in Iraq, a predominantly homegrown Sunni insurgent group that has often targeted policemen and other representatives of Iraq's Shiite-led government.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq has conducted fewer attacks in recent months and seemed to have lost influence as a result of U.S.-led military operations and campaigns to turn the local population against the insurgency. American officials have warned that the group remains a potent threat.
U.S. and Iraqi commanders have focused lately on Shiite militias, after an Iraqi-led offensive in the southern city of Basra late last month that sparked violent resistance from militia members there and in Baghdad.
Iraqi officials in Diyala said Tuesday evening that the bomb, which was hidden in a Chevrolet sedan parked in a busy area known as Old Baqubah, also wounded 82 people. Earlier in the day, the U.S. military said the blast had killed 36 people and injured 67.
The victims included women and children, and many of the injured were in critical condition Tuesday, said Col. Ali Jassem, a spokesman for a local military center staffed by Iraqi and U.S. military personnel.
Jassem called the bombing the "most devastating attack to have taken place in Diyala since 2003," and noted that the assailants penetrated an area that was considered relatively secure.
"Half of the dead people are still at the Baqubah morgue because it is so hard to identify their bodies," Jassem said.
The bomb detonated at approximately 12:30 p.m. as people were filling out government forms at a nearby courthouse. It destroyed 15 vehicles, set 13 shops on fire and killed people in buses driving past the sedan at the time of the blast, Iraqi officials said.
The bomb killed at least one policeman and damaged a restaurant frequented by members of Iraq's security forces, Jassem said. Courthouses have been targeted in the past by Sunni insurgents, who reject the legitimacy of Iraq's government.
Courthouses have become busy in recent weeks because scores of Iraqis have filed applications to get loved ones released from government custody under a recently approved amnesty law.
Abdullah Jabar al-Qaisi, one of the people wounded in Baqubah, said he had been heading to court to fill out paperwork to secure the release of his brother.
"I heard a loud Wham! that lifted me to the air and threw me back on the ground," he said. "I saw body pieces and human bodies flying and slapping the ground."
Jassem Muhsin Alwan, a doctor at a Baqubah hospital, said more than 85 people were being treated there. "Many families are still coming around looking for their sons," he said.
The attacks came shortly after the release of a recorded message attributed to Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni umbrella organization believed to have been founded by al-Qaeda in Iraq. The message was uploaded on a Web site frequently used by the Islamic State of Iraq to communicate with its followers.
The message urged people to break ties with Iraqi security forces and Awakening councils, groups made up of Sunnis who oppose extremists. It encouraged supporters to step up attacks against U.S. forces and also Iraqis working with them. The authenticity of the message could not be confirmed.
U.S. military officials in Baqubah said violence in the area has dropped by 80 percent since June. Capt. Stephen Bomar, a U.S. military spokesman, called the bombing a "random act of violence from a desperate enemy."
In Ramadi, at least 10 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a restaurant, according to Tariq Yousif al-Asal al-Dulaimi, a police commander. "University students and policemen usually attend this restaurant," he said.
A patron who was injured in that attack said the bomber walked into the restaurant wearing a dishdasha, a long tunic commonly worn by Arab men. A waiter invited him to take a seat anywhere he wanted.
After screaming "God is great," the bomber "blew himself up," said the diner, Fawzi Mohammed al-Swedawi, 43.
In Mosul, where U.S. officials said members of al-Qaeda in Iraq have gathered after leaving other parts of the country, a roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi police checkpoint at approximately 3:45 p.m. as a U.S. military convoy was passing through, a U.S. military spokeswoman said. As the first responders approached the scene, a car bomb exploded. Three Iraqi policemen and 15 civilians were wounded.
"The enemy continues to maim innocent civilians and harm those trying to come to their aid," Maj. Peggy Kageleiry, a U.S. military spokeswoman, said by e-mail. "It's cruel and inhuman, and despite this, new recruits are continuing to come into" Iraqi security forces.
In the central Baghdad district of Rusafa, a car bomb wounded 11 people, the U.S. military said.
Meanwhile, in Karbala, south of Baghdad, suspected Shiite militia members kidnapped six Iraqi soldiers, said Rahman Imshawir, a police spokesman in the city.
Five of the soldiers were killed and showed signs of torture, according to Salim Kadhim, the director of Karbala's health department.
"We have received five dead bodies of the soldiers," he said. "Their arms and legs were broken, and they were shot in the head and the chest."
In the south, three aides to Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, escaped assassination in separate attacks Tuesday, although two of them were seriously wounded, the Associated Press reported.
Special correspondents Zaid Sabah, K.I. Ibrahim and Naseer Nouri in Baghdad and Saad Sarhan in Najaf contributed to this report.