IRAQ: Suicide bomber kills 25 at Baghdad banquet

Record ID: 356418

  • Title: IRAQ: Suicide bomber kills 25 at Baghdad banquet
  • Date: 25th August 2008
  • Summary: MAN ARRANGING PILLOWS AT SCENE BLOODSTAIN AND PAIR OF SANDAL NEARBY/ PAN TO MATTRESSES AND SCATTERED PLATES
  • Embargoed: 9th September 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVAF51TUC4X06AA9A5XK8IZG6I7Y
  • Story Text: 25 killed when suicide bomber attacks banquet in Baghdad.
    A suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest at a dinner banquet in western Baghdad's Sunni Arab Abu Ghraib district on Sunday, killing 25 people, police said.
    The attack, the biggest in weeks, took place at the home of a local sheikh who was holding the feast to celebrate the release of his son from U.S.
    detention, police said.
    Television footage showed mattresses splattered with blood scattered in the garden of the house and dishes of rice left at the place where the dinner feast was held.
    Police said women and children were among the dead, as were some men believed to be members of U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrols.

    "They were having a dinner feast when a stranger walked in and blew himself up. It is a criminal act, I can not believe that a Muslim man can do it. All those who were killed are innocent people. What did the children do? And what did the women do ? Most of the dead are elderly people,"
    said Abu Ahmed, a neighbour.
    Police colonel Dawood Suleiman in the nearby city of Falluja gave the initial death toll as 21. A police source in Baghdad who declined to give his name later said 25 had died and 32 were injured.
    The bloodied bodies shrouded with white cloth were taken to the area's mosque early on Monday for funeral prayer.
    Abu Ghraib is a largely Sunni Arab district located between central Baghdad and Falluja on the highway heading west from the capital into Anbar province, an area once in the grip of al Qaeda but now controlled by U.S.-backed tribal groups.
    U.S. and Iraqi authorities say suicide bombings are the signature tactic of al Qaeda Sunni Arab militants, who frequently target other Sunnis.
    Iraq has become far less dangerous over the past year, but militants still retain the ability to conduct large-scaled bombings.
    Four roadside bombs in other parts of Iraq -- a double bomb attack in central Baghdad and two separate strikes in Diyala province north of the capital -- killed 11 people on Sunday.
    Diyala, where U.S. forces say al Qaeda has regrouped since being pushed out of other parts of the country, has been the scene of a major crackdown by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces and a bombing campaign by militants over the past few weeks.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register