Newsmax:
Wave of Baghdad Bombings Kills Dozens
BAGHDAD — A wave of bombings ripped across Baghdad on Thursday morning, killing at least 63 people and injuring nearly 200 in the worst violence Iraq has seen for months. The bloodbath comes just days after American forces left the country.
The blasts also came on the heels of a political crisis between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite factions that erupted this weekend. The political spat, which pits Iraq's Shiite prime minister against the highest-ranking Sunni political leader, has raised fears that Iraq's sectarian wounds will be reopened during a fragile time when Iraq is finally navigating its own political future without U.S. military support.
While the string of explosions was likely not a direct response to the political Sunni-Shiite confrontation, it will ratchet up tensions at a time when many Iraqis are already worried about security. If continued, it could lead to the same type of tit-for-tat attacks that characterized the insurgency years ago.
Iraqi officials said at least 14 blasts went off early Thursday morning in 11 neighborhoods around the city. The explosions ranged from blasts from sticky bombs attached to cars to roadside bombs and vehicles packed with explosives. There was at least one suicide bombing among the attacks.
Most of the attacks appeared to hit Shiite neighborhoods although some Sunni areas were also targeted.
The spokesman for the Iraqi health ministry put the death toll at 57 and said at least 176 people were also injured. He did not have a neighborhood by neighborhood breakdown for where the fatalities and the injuries occurred.
Earlier reports indicated that the worst of the violence occurred in al-Amal neighborhood where seven people were killed in a blast that appeared to target rescuers and officials who came to the scene after a previous explosion. At least four people were killed in one western Baghdad neighborhood when two roadside bombs exploded.
All the information came from police and hospital officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
In the southwestern neighborhood of Karrada, where a blast ripped through a side street near the Integrity Commission headquarters, sirens could be heard as ambulances rushed to the scene and a large plume of smoke rose over the explosion site.
"My baby was sleeping in her bed. Shards of glass have fallen on our heads. Her father hugged her and carried her. She is now scared in the next room," said one woman in western Baghdad who identified herself as Um Hanin. "All countries are stable. Why don't we have security and stability?"
While Baghdad and Iraq have gotten much safer over the years, explosions like Thursday's are still commonplace. They come at a precarious time in Iraq's political history, just days after American troops pulled out of Iraq.
The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has accused the Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi of running a hit squad that targeted government officials. Al-Maliki is also pushing for a vote of no-confidence against another Sunni politician, the deputy prime minister Saleh al-Mutlaq.
Many Sunnis fear that this is part of a wider campaign to go after Sunni political figures in general and shore up Shiite control across the country at a critical time when all American troops have left Iraq.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the morning's violence. But the coordinated nature of the assault and the fact that the attacks took place in numerous neighborhoods suggested a planning capability only available to al-Qaida in Iraq.
Many of the neighborhoods were also Shiite areas which are a favorite target of al-Qaida. The Sunni extremist group often targets Shiites who they believe are not true Muslims.
Al-Qaida in Iraq is severely debilitated from its previous strength in the early years of the war, but is still able to launch coordinated and deadly assaults from time to time.
U.S. military officials have said they're worried about a resurgence of al-Qaida after the American military leaves the country. If that happens, it could lead Shiite militants to fight back and attack Sunni targets, thus sending Iraq back to the sectarian violence it experienced just a few years ago.
-
Newsmax: 43 Dead in Attacks Targeting Iraqi Security Forces Wednesday, 25 Aug 2010 Bombers and gunmen launched an apparently coordinated string of attacks against Iraqi government forces on Wednesday, killing at least 43 people a day after the number...
- Coordinated Blasts In Baghdad Kill At Least 112
Fox: Coordinated Blasts in Baghdad Kill at Least 112 BAGHDAD — A series of coordinated attacks struck Baghdad Tuesday, including three car bombs that blew up near government sites. At least 112 were killed and 197 wounded in the worst wave of violence...
- Why Would The Iranians Broker A Cease Fire For Iraq Vs Muqtadr?
USA TODAY: BAGHDAD -- Iranian officials helped broker a cease-fire agreement Sunday between Iraq's government and radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, according to Iraqi lawmakers. The deal could help defuse a wave of violence that had threatened...
- Iraq Does Not Exist. Neither Did Yugoslavia
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Three suicide car bombers and two mortar attacks shook Baghdad's Sadr City Shiite slum Thursday afternoon, killing at least 144 people and wounding 236 others, many of them seriously, police said. The bombs and mortar shells...
- Extra, Extra, Read All About It: Iraq's Newspaper War
Now that the decades-long iron grip of Saddam Hussein's tyranny has been lifted from the throats of Iraqi muslims, they are free to practice their religion to the fullest extent of their faith. The result: the Iraqi people currently suffer under the...