IRAQ: At least 7 wounded in separate attacks in Baghdad / Suicide car bomb attack kills 50 in Abu Sayda / British military convoy hit by a roadside bomb in Basra / Residents claim 28 were people killed by U.S. forces in Haditha

Record ID: 354840

  • Title: IRAQ: At least 7 wounded in separate attacks in Baghdad / Suicide car bomb attack kills 50 in Abu Sayda / British military convoy hit by a roadside bomb in Basra / Residents claim 28 were people killed by U.S. forces in Haditha
  • Date: 21st November 2005
  • Summary: ONLOOKERS GATHERING NEAR DAMAGED HOUSE DAMAGED HOUSE MORE OF DAMAGES IN HOUSE SCATTERED BELONGINGS IN HOUSE VARIOUS OF DAMAGES AT HOUSE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) WALEED HASSAN, AN EYEWITNESS SAYING: "What happened is that a mortar landed on this house at about 0850 (0550GMT), wounding scores of people. I have one question only to the Iraqi officials, when an Iraqi official said
  • Embargoed: 6th December 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVAD75EVYRCNS61J84FPEP1YKV2Y
  • Story Text: A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi police patrol in eastern Baghdad on Sunday (November 20), wounding five civilians, police said.
    Police said number of civilian cars were wrecked in the blast.
    "We were in duty standing here (points) with two motors, we did not feel anything but a big blast of roadside bomb. One of the motors was burned out. Thanks God we have only wounded no one was killed in this attack," said Sergeant Uday, an Iraqi policeman.
    Meanwhile, at least two civilians were wounded when a mortar round landed on a house in a neighbourhood in eastern Baghdad later on Sunday (November 20), police said.
    "What happened is that a mortar landed on this house at about 0850 (0550GMT), wounding scores of people," according to Waleed Hassan, an eye witness said.
    There has been a surge in violence in Iraq over the last two days with the number of people killed in a spate of attacks rising to 150.
    Earlier on Saturday (November 19), at least 50 people were killed when a suicide car bomber attacked the funeral of a Shi'ite Muslim sheikh north of Baghdad, a day after scores died in twin mosque bombings. Another 75 people were wounded.
    Saturday's car bomb exploded near crowded condolence tents at the funeral in Abu Sayda near Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police colonel Muthaffar Aboud said.
    A British military convoy was hit by a roadside bomb in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Sunday (November 20).
    Witnesses said that the bomb exploded next to a British convoy of two vehicles, hitting one of the vehicles, and that at least four casualties were evacuated from the scene on stretchers.
    "There were two vehicles. When they reached the end of the road, by the tree, a roadside bomb exploded," said Hazem Mohammed who was standing nearby when the blast occurred.
    It was not clear, however, whether the four Britons were wounded or dead and the British military was not immediately available to comment on the attack.
    Britain, which has about 8,000 soldiers in Iraq, has said it will start to pull out its troops as soon as local forces think they can maintain security but London has so far declined to set a timetable.
    British forces are stationed mainly in the city and other towns in southern Iraq which had been more stable than some other regions but violence has also risen there in the last few months.
    The U.S. military said a Marine was killed on Saturday (November 19) in a bomb attack near Haditha, about 200 km (124 miles) northwest of Baghdad in the mainly Sunni desert province of Anbar, one of the hotbeds of the insurgency.
    Their deaths took the toll of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in March 2003 to 2,090, according to information compiled from the military.
    Residents of the restive Iraqi town of Haditha said on Sunday (November 20) that 28 people were killed by the U.S. forces following a roadside bomb explosion that killed the U.S. Marine.
    A cameraman working for Reuters in Haditha said bodies were left lying in the street for hours after the attack. He said the town had been virtually shut down for the past two days as U.S. and Iraqi forces tried to impose order.
    U.S. troops have been trying for months to quell the insurgency in Haditha and other Sunni Arab towns on the Euphrates, where several months ago it was suspected Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was hiding out.
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