IRAQ: Wave of car bombs hits Baghdad as the trial of Saddam Hussein resumes

Record ID: 357964

  • Title: IRAQ: Wave of car bombs hits Baghdad as the trial of Saddam Hussein resumes
  • Date: 25th April 2006
  • Summary: (BN11) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (APRIL 24, 2006) (REUTERS) SITE WHERE CAR EXPLODED DAMAGED CAR CAR BOMB WRECKAGE MORE CAR BOMB WRECKAGE
  • Embargoed: 10th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADB0QVN3GW38X68L213RHN4U4Q
  • Story Text: A wave of car bombs hit Baghdad on Monday killing at least eight people and wounding nearly 80 as the trial of Saddam Hussein heard his signature was on documents linking him to the killings of 148 people.
    Two car bombs near Baghdad's Mustansiriya University killed at least five people and wounded 25, officials said. A car bomb near the Health Ministry killed three people and wounded 25. Four other bombings in the city wounded at least 27 people.
    The bloodshed comes while Prime Minister-designate Jawad al-Maliki works on choosing a cabinet, which will share power among Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds in a bid to end the sectarian violence that threatens to drag Iraq into a civil war.
    The car bombs were a bloody reminder that Prime Minister-designate Jawad al-Maliki faces a daunting task of forming a government that can avert a slide to sectarian civil war.
    In central Baghdad, at least 15 people were wounded when a car bomb exploded near the Criminal Evidence Directory, police said.
    "A blast took place; young people were killed in the blast. A poor man here lost his leg. Tragedies, tragedies. God saved many children. Windows were broken. God protect the others," said Mariam, an eye witness.
    A seventh car bomb exploded in the upscale Mansour district of Baghdad, on Monday (April 24), targeting an Iraqi police patrol wounding at least eight people, police said.
    The Mansour district is home to some embassies and contracting companies. Aqeel Shaker, an eyewitness, described what happened.
    "A car bomb was driving by the police car and then exploded, lot of shops in this street, four policemen wounded by the blast but we don't know how many killed. We were inside our shops when the glass smashed on us. The situation became very difficult," he said.
    In Baghdad's heavily fortified so-called Green Zone, the court trying Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity heard the signatures of Saddam and six co-accused on documents linking them to the killing of 148 Shi'ites in the 1980s were genuine.
    "The signatures and margins stipulated in the documents match the signature of Saddam Hussein on presidential decrees," said the report read out by a judge.
    The prosecution had demanded the court commission a team of criminal experts to authenticate signatures and handwriting of the defendants facing charges of crimes against humanity.
    Saddam and his half brother Barzan al-Tikriti have refused to give samples of their writing but both have said there was no crime in prosecuting the 148 from the village of Dujail because they were accused of trying to kill the former Iraqi president.
    Defence lawyers demanded 45 days to study new evidence before commenting. The trial was adjourned until May 15 to give the defence time to present their witnesses in the next session.
    The defendants could face death by hanging if found guilty.
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