IRAQ: Truck bombs in Shi'ite village kill 26, wound 128

Record ID: 356893

  • Title: IRAQ: Truck bombs in Shi'ite village kill 26, wound 128
  • Date: 11th August 2009
  • Summary: AL-KHAZNA VILLAGE, NEAR MOSUL, IRAQ (AUGUST 10, 2009) (REUTERS) PEOPLE STANDING AMONG RUBBLE OF FLATTENED HOUSES BLOCKS SCATTERED ALL OVER BLAST SCENE/ DESTROYED HOUSES IN THE BACKGROUND LARGE CRATER CAUSED BY TRUCK BOMBS FILLED WITH WATER / PEOPLE STANDING AT EDGE WRECKAGE OF TRUCK BOMB DAMAGED FOUR-WHEEL DRIVE VEHICLE AT SCENE PEOPLE NEAR FORK-LIFT TRUCK AND RESCUE
  • Embargoed: 26th August 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA7WCDWFP27JRF1QT3IPN25UQZD
  • Story Text: Two truck bombs exploding minutes within of each other at dawn killed 26 people and wounded 128 on Monday (August 10) in the predominantly Shi'ite al-Khazna village, 20 km (12 miles) east of Mosul, police said.
    The blasts flattened some 40 houses in the village, home to the small Shabka community, a sect of Kurdish origin. People were buried under the rubble.
    Many of the wounded were evacuated to a hospital in Mosul for treatment.
    Bombings and shootings are reported almost daily in and around Mosul, capital of Nineveh province, where disputes between Arabs and Kurds threaten to split the region and inflame tensions that could threaten Iraq's long-term stability.
    The blasts in northern Iraq coincided with two bombs exploding in predominantly Shi'ite areas in the southwest of Baghdad. A a car bomb and a roadside bomb targeting labourers queuing for work killed seven people, a source at a hospital close to the blasts said. Police had earlier given a death toll of 16.
    While violence has fallen sharply in the past 18 months, insurgents still manage to launch attacks in the face of largely untested Iraqi forces, who lack equipment and experience.
    Monday's bombings were the latest of several major attacks since U.S. combat troops withdrew from urban centres in June.
    U.S. forces are due to leave Iraq by 2012 in accordance with a bilateral security pact between Washington and Baghdad.
    The violence raises doubts about the readiness of Iraq's security forces, rebuilt from scratch after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, to cope alone, and also bolsters fears of a resurgence of sectarian slaughter between Sunnis and Shi'ites.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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