IRAQ: Iraqi suicide bomber kills 23 at tribal lunch

Record ID: 352430

  • Title: IRAQ: Iraqi suicide bomber kills 23 at tribal lunch
  • Date: 3rd January 2009
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF DEAD MEN LYING ON GROUND
  • Embargoed: 18th January 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA682TZ03ALBQKR1WD8FR6J07S3
  • Story Text: A suicide bomber killed at least 23 people and wounded 72 on Friday (January 2) at a gathering of Sunni Arab tribal leaders for a lunch in a town south of Iraqi capital Baghdad, security spokesman Major-General Qassim Moussawi said.
    Friday's bombing took place a day after the United States presence in Iraq officially came under an Iraqi government mandate for the first time, according to a bilateral security pact that took effect on New Year's Day (January 1).
    Moussawi said his latest count was 72 people wounded, some seriously.
    The U.S. military said its initial reports indicated 21 people were killed. An Iraqi security source said as many as 30 people died and more than 100 were hurt.
    Moussawi said Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Salih, a Sunni leader of the al-Qaraghouli tribe, hosted the lunch at his home on the outskirts of Yusufiya, 20 km (12 miles) south of Baghdad.
    The bomber, a relative of the host named Amin al-Qaraghouli, entered through the rear gate of the house and blew himself among the guests, Moussawi said.
    The sheikh was among the wounded.
    Jassim Mohammed, the local mayor, said the gathering was held to bring tribal leaders in the north and south together, "to unify their word but a criminal act has been taken place, causing the death of a number of our brothers", he added.
    "Yesterday, we were advised that a suicide vest attack had taken place here in Qaraghouli. When we responded to the incident, the Iraqi army had already been here, they had increased the security, they had provided ambulance medivac in order to get all the casualties to hospitals and they had taken care of all the initial emergency response before we arrived on the scene," Captain Kolin Roberts of the U.S. Military Forces said.
    Violence has dropped sharply in Iraq from the peak of sectarian bloodshed in 2006 and 2007, but suicide bombers and gunmen still regularly stage attacks.
    In the biggest recent attack, a suicide bomber killed around 50 people at a packed restaurant near the northern city of Kirkuk on December 11. An attack in Baghdad last week killed at least 25 people.
    Sunni Arab militants have frequently targeted tribal gatherings since many tribes turned against insurgents.
    Almost six years after the U.S-led invasion, more than 140,000 U.S.
    troops in Iraq are gradually reducing their activities ahead of an end-2011 departure deadline.
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