IRAQ: Six Iraqis killed, more than 30 wounded in Baghdad bomb blasts, and suicide bomber hits crowd of pensioners in Basra

Record ID: 354716

  • Title: IRAQ: Six Iraqis killed, more than 30 wounded in Baghdad bomb blasts, and suicide bomber hits crowd of pensioners in Basra
  • Date: 20th June 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) KHALAF MUHSIN, AN EYE WITNESS SAYING: "The suicide bomber was so close to the women line, police asked him to leave but he blew himself up and people tried to run away. (QS: Do you know how many killed in the attack?) A woman was wounded and two others killed. We were trying to run away and we did not know what happened after that. Police did not know
  • Embargoed: 5th July 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVACDKMICCOPGPI4B0D22VGGIYZ8
  • Story Text: A roadside bomb exploded near a central Baghdad market on Tuesday (June 20), killing at least three people and wounding 28.
    Police said the target appeared to be civilians because there were no Iraqi security forces or army troops in the area.
    It was the latest in a series of bombs to hit the capital despite a security crackdown that the government said involves some 40,000 troops.
    On Monday (June 19), a car bomb targeting a checkpoint of Iraqi police commandos in southern Baghdad killed three people and wounded three others on Monday (June 19), police sources said.
    The attack took place in Baghdad's district of al-Jihad.
    Insurgents have defied a government crackdown involving 50,000 Iraqi troops backed by 7,000 U.S.-led soldiers, launched last week in a bid to put pressure on al Qaeda in Baghdad.
    In one of bloodiest days in Iraq since a U.S. air strike killed al Qaeda's leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on June 7, insurgents killed 43 people in and near Baghdad on Saturday.
    A group linked to al Qaeda which had pledged to continue what it described as the holy war against crusader forces until "doomsday" claimed responsibility for four car bombs on Saturday against U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces.
    U.S. and Iraqi forces are battling a Sunni insurgency that erupted after Saddam Hussein's fall in 2003 and shows no sign of easing despite the killing of Zarqawi.
    Meanwhile a suicide bomber killed a woman and wounded five people when he attacked a crowd of elderly and disabled pensioners in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Tuesday, police said.
    The crowd were gathering to receive their monthly pension.
    "The suicide bomber was so close to the women line, police asked him to leave but he blew himself up and people tried to run away. (QS: Do you know how many killed in the attack?) A woman was wounded and two others killed. We were trying to run away and we did not know what happened after that. Police did not know that he was aiming at blowing himself up because he was among the crowd. This place is called 'senior citizens' home'," said eyewitness Khalaf Muhsin.
    Police sources had earlier said the blast targeted a senior citizens' home neighbouring the social care centre.
    Police said only one of the two explosive belts the bomber was wearing detonated. Witnesses saw three bomb disposal experts at the scene. Police said they were trying to defuse the second bomb on the attacker's corpse.
    The blast occurred in the northern Basra district of Jamiyat.
    Suicide bombers have often struck at civilian targets in predominantly Shi'ite cities such as Basra as part of a campaign to draw Iraqis into a civil war.
    Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki declared a state of emergency in Basra last month in a bid to crack down on militias, armed gangs and feuding Shi'ite factions threatening oil exports. But violence has not eased.
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