IRAQ: Suicide truck bomb kills at least 20 people in Iraqi city of Baiji

Record ID: 356330

  • Title: IRAQ: Suicide truck bomb kills at least 20 people in Iraqi city of Baiji
  • Date: 25th December 2007
  • Summary: LARGE CRATER U.S. MILITARY VEHICLE AT SCENE CROWDS AND AMERICAN TROOPS AT SCENE
  • Embargoed: 9th January 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVAAZ68H0V7WTSIOK6DEZ42YWTKW
  • Story Text: Twenty-three people die in suicide bombing in the city of Baiji in Iraq.
    A suicide truck bomb killed 23 people and wounded 77 others in the northern Iraqi city of Baiji on Tuesday (December 25).
    The police and U.S. military earlier put the death toll at 20.
    The blast destroyed a guardhouse leading to the complex and smashed the windows of nearby apartment buildings. People were digging through the rubble looking for bodies.
    An eyewitness at the scene, who works for the Oil Protection Facilities services said the explosion occurred just after 9 a.m. local time (0600 GMT)
    "It targeted civil servants, civilians and members of oil protection facilities and a checkpoint of neighbourhood patrols, causing casualties," the unidentified male said at the scene.
    Abdul-Rahman Dhahir, a doctor in Baiji hospital, and Iraqi army Major Shamil Mohammed said most of the casualties were civilians who had been queuing near a gas station.
    Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani ordered the dismissal and interrogation of Baiji police chief Saad Nufous shortly after the attack, Interior Ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf told Reuters.
    The violent oil refinery town, about 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, has witnessed a number of bomb attacks. Earlier this month two suicide car bombers killed nine people.
    Violence has dropped sharply across Iraq in recent months after the United States dispatched 30,000 extra troops. U.S. and Iraqi officials also credit the mainly Sunni neighbourhood patrol units as another factor behind the lull in bloodletting.
    But Tuesday's attack highlighted the volatile situation in the provinces north of Baghdad. U.S. officials say al Qaeda is regrouping in the north after being pushed out of Baghdad and western Anbar province.
    The attack on Tuesday was the worst since Dec. 12, when a triple car bombing in the southern city of Amara killed 40 and wounded 125.
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