IRAQ: Gunmen kill family of four in Baghdad; Two people are killed and 11 wounded in two separate attacks.

Record ID: 354514

  • Title: IRAQ: Gunmen kill family of four in Baghdad; Two people are killed and 11 wounded in two separate attacks.
  • Date: 4th April 2006
  • Summary: (1ST BLAST SITE) BLAST SITE DEBRIS OF CAR BOMB SCATTERED OVER STREET AND PEOPLE, POLICEMEN AND IRAQI SOLDIERS AT SITE IRAQI SOLDIERS AT SITE COVERED WITH DEBRIS ANGRY MAN HOLDING PIECE OF CAR SHOUTING AND THROWING BLOODIED WRECKAGE ON THE STREET PIECE OF CAR WRECKAGE ON STREET DAMAGED STEERING WHEEL WRECKAGE OF CAR BOMB BEING LOADED ONTO TRUCK AMBULANCE LEAVING SITE /
  • Embargoed: 19th April 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVAEG9YSFGY4E0TEMXC56RLARGLP
  • Story Text: Gunmen massacred a family of four, three women and a teenage boy in their Baghdad home on Sunday (April 2) night, police and witnesses said.
    The killings, of Shi'ite Muslims in the mixed neighbourhood of Doura in the south of the capital, sparked accusations from local people that it was a sectarian attack by Sunnis.
    Witnesses said that gunmen knocked at the door of Mirza Awayed Kadhim at around 21:00 ( 1700GMT) and when 16-year old Ali opened the door. He was shot and the gunmen then entered the house shooting two sisters and an aunt.
    Police officers at the scene confirmed the details of the killings but had no comment on their investigation.
    Sectarian violence has spiralled since a key Shi'ite shrine was bombed on Feb. 22 and many Iraqis and foreign governments believe the only way to put a lid on the bloodshed and avert civil war is a to rapidly form a coalition government of Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds.
    On Monday (April 3), a car bomb exploded in central Baghdad as a foreign security convoy drove past, wounding five civilians, police and witnesses said.
    Police said the car was parked on the side of the road and it went off when the convoy of sport utility vehicles drove past. The convoy escaped the damage, but five pedestrians were wounded by the attack.
    Foreign officials and security contractors move around Baghdad in high-profile convoys of four-wheel-drive sports utility vehicles accompanied by armed guards. They are a frequent target for insurgents, particularly on the dangerous airport road.
    Also on Monday a car bomb exploded in eastern part of the capital, killing two civilians and wounding six people, police and witnesses said.
    The car bomb went off close to patrol of police while driving in Talbiya district on its way to Baghdad main morgue to deliver bodies found in Baghdad street, the latest victims of violence.
    "We were on our way to the Medical Legal Institute to deliver unidentified bodies when they (attackers) targeted our patrol. Two civilians were killed in the blast and one of us was wounded," said policeman Wahim Jabr.
    The blast left a large pool of blood covering the street as pieces of the car bomb wreckage scattered all over the area.
    The United States and Britain on Monday urged Iraq's leaders to break their political deadlock as quickly as possible to avoid civil war and take the county forward.
    U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, on a sudden and secret visit, told Iraqi leaders the political vacuum -- with no government four months after elections -- was undermining security.
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