Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
January 23, 2008
Pg. 8
Roadside blast goes off near another school in capital
By Christopher Chester, Associated Press
BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber pushing an electric heater atop a cart packed with hidden explosives attacked a high school north of Baghdad on Tuesday, leaving students and teachers bloodied.
The bombing -- one of two attacks near Iraqi schools on the same day -- follows a wave of recent blasts against funerals and social gatherings.
The recent attacks coincide with a U.S.-led offensive trying to uproot insurgents from strongholds around Baghdad.
In the suicide attack, the bomber posed as a shopper or merchant transporting an electric heater on a chilly winter day. The blast struck the front of a two-story schoolhouse in Baqouba a half-hour after classes began. Panicked parents rushed to find their children.
A 25-year-old male bystander was killed, and 21 people were wounded � 12 students, eight teachers and one policeman, said a doctor at Baqouba General Hospital who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was afraid of being targeted by militants.
The school's headmaster, Ahmed Alwan, said he was in his office when the attacker blew himself up at the outside gate, leaving a crater in the street.
"After the tremendous explosion, there was total darkness in my room," he said. "The false ceiling and the books on the shelves fell on me, and an object hit my head."
"I can't think of any reason to target students," said Mohammed Abbas, 15, his head wrapped in a bandage. His father stood near his hospital bed in Baqouba, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. "We did not expect that explosions would reach our school," Abbas said.
In the other attack, a roadside bomb exploded next to a girl's high school in Baghdad's western district of Amiriyah, wounding a 7-year-old boy who was passing by. In recent attacks, insurgents have bypassed the heavy security at major events to strike less prominent targets.
During last week's observances of Ashoura, the most important religious day in the Shiite calendar, there were no attacks on the main procession in the holy city of Karbala, where hundreds of thousands marched.
Instead, militants struck with suicide bombings and rocket fire on small gatherings of worshipers north of Baghdad.
At a tribal gathering near Fallujah on Sunday, the bomber was a 15-year-old boy carrying a box of candy.
Women are being used more in suicide bombings -- four times in the past three months.
The U.S. military has gained command of many key areas in central Iraq with the help of Iraqi troops and "Awakening Councils" -- mostly Sunni tribal groups that have turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq. "There were no police or army inside my school," Alwan said. "I think that the goal of this attack was to destroy any sign of education and culture in this country."
January 23, 2008
Pg. 8
Roadside blast goes off near another school in capital
By Christopher Chester, Associated Press
BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber pushing an electric heater atop a cart packed with hidden explosives attacked a high school north of Baghdad on Tuesday, leaving students and teachers bloodied.
The bombing -- one of two attacks near Iraqi schools on the same day -- follows a wave of recent blasts against funerals and social gatherings.
The recent attacks coincide with a U.S.-led offensive trying to uproot insurgents from strongholds around Baghdad.
In the suicide attack, the bomber posed as a shopper or merchant transporting an electric heater on a chilly winter day. The blast struck the front of a two-story schoolhouse in Baqouba a half-hour after classes began. Panicked parents rushed to find their children.
A 25-year-old male bystander was killed, and 21 people were wounded � 12 students, eight teachers and one policeman, said a doctor at Baqouba General Hospital who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was afraid of being targeted by militants.
The school's headmaster, Ahmed Alwan, said he was in his office when the attacker blew himself up at the outside gate, leaving a crater in the street.
"After the tremendous explosion, there was total darkness in my room," he said. "The false ceiling and the books on the shelves fell on me, and an object hit my head."
"I can't think of any reason to target students," said Mohammed Abbas, 15, his head wrapped in a bandage. His father stood near his hospital bed in Baqouba, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. "We did not expect that explosions would reach our school," Abbas said.
In the other attack, a roadside bomb exploded next to a girl's high school in Baghdad's western district of Amiriyah, wounding a 7-year-old boy who was passing by. In recent attacks, insurgents have bypassed the heavy security at major events to strike less prominent targets.
During last week's observances of Ashoura, the most important religious day in the Shiite calendar, there were no attacks on the main procession in the holy city of Karbala, where hundreds of thousands marched.
Instead, militants struck with suicide bombings and rocket fire on small gatherings of worshipers north of Baghdad.
At a tribal gathering near Fallujah on Sunday, the bomber was a 15-year-old boy carrying a box of candy.
Women are being used more in suicide bombings -- four times in the past three months.
The U.S. military has gained command of many key areas in central Iraq with the help of Iraqi troops and "Awakening Councils" -- mostly Sunni tribal groups that have turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq. "There were no police or army inside my school," Alwan said. "I think that the goal of this attack was to destroy any sign of education and culture in this country."