IRAQ: Roadside bombings in several Baghdad neighbourhoods kill three civilians and wound at least 16 others as Iraqis observe third anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime

Record ID: 354526

  • Title: IRAQ: Roadside bombings in several Baghdad neighbourhoods kill three civilians and wound at least 16 others as Iraqis observe third anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime
  • Date: 9th April 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DHIA MUHSIN, SAYING; "We heard a sound of explosion and I went running out with my colleagues to see what has happened. We saw a passenger minibus, a Kia wrecked by the blast and four passengers. We pulled two passengers out of the minibus while two others were lying on the street by the force of the blast."
  • Embargoed: 24th April 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVAA8Q16PHXR2ZUL39THYRIPNS2Q
  • Story Text: Roadside bombings in several Baghdad neighbourhoods on Sunday (April 9) killed three civilians and wounded at least 16 others as Iraqis observed the third anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, police said.
    A roadside bomb targeting a passing police patrol in Maysalon Square in the eastern part of the city, wounded policemen and three civilians.
    The blast also caused slight damage to the police vehicle.
    "The bomb went off close to our patrol, police patrol of New Baghdad. The driver was wounded and was taken to hospital and three other civilians were also wounded," said one of the policemen who survived the attack.
    In Baghdad's upscale district of Mansour a bomb went off close to a parking police vehicle in the area, killing a civilian and wounding five others, witnesses said.
    Meanwhile, a bomb left in a minibus in the al-Mustansiriya area in eastern Baghdad killed two passengers and wounded seven others, police said.
    "We heard a sound of an explosion and I went running out with my colleagues to see what has happened. We saw a passenger minibus, a Kia wrecked by the blast and four passengers. We pulled two passengers out of the minibus while two others were lying on the street from the force of the blast," said eyewitness Dhia Muhsin.
    The blast turned the minibus into twisted metal and scattered pieces of the wreckage all over the area.
    To the west of Baghdad a roadside bomb exploded close to a U.S. tank in the restive city of Ramadi, witnesses said.
    Television footage showed the tank abandoned with smoke coming out of it. The attack followed a day of fierce clashes between insurgents and U.S. forces in the city, a stronghold of insurgents, 70 miles west of the capital Baghdad.
    On the political level, more than one thousand people marched in the streets of Baghdad's northern predominantly Shi'ite neighbourhood of Kadhimiya in a show of support for the incumbent prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
    Chanting "Jaafari is our leader", the demonstrators, mainly followers of the radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and members of the Islamic Dawa Party marched through the streets carrying large pictures of Jaafari.
    Sadr's support enabled al-Jaafari to win the nomination by a single vote in a Feb. 12 caucus of Shi'ites who won election to the new parliament Dec. 15.
    "The people took to the street today to express their opinion, which they fought for and voted for. The people are calling for the unity of the Alliance and voicing support for the Alliance' candidate, that is Ibrahim al-Jaafari," said Khalifa Faris al-Jourani, member of the Islamic Dawa Party who took part in the rally.
    Iraq's Shi'ite leaders met on Sunday in another attempt to break an impasse over the prime minister, hoping to pave the way for a unity government many see as the only way to avert open civil war.
    The United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) faces mounting pressure to withdraw Ibrahim al-Jaafari as its candidate for prime minister, but finding a replacement could put a strain on the fragile bloc and plunge the country into another political crisis.
    Jaafari, who also faces internal opposition from UIA members, has been widely criticised by Kurdish and Sunni politicians for failing to lead Iraq out of a security crisis in his year in power as interim prime minister.
    But the Dawa party leader refuses to step aside, raising fears among Iraq's main allies the United States and Britain that the political vacuum will play into the hands of insurgents and fuel sectarian violence.
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