- Title: IRAQ: FOUR CAR BOMBS IN BAGHDAD LEAVE OVER ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE DEAD
- Date: 23rd October 2005
- Summary: (BN04) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 14, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. SLV SCENE OF THE ATTACK WHERE THE SUICIDE BOMBER EXPLODE HIMSELF 0.10 2. SLV DAMAGED CARS AND CROWD AROUND 0.19 3. SLV MORE OF CROWD NEAR BURNED OUT CARS 4. BODIES ON CARTS LEFT IN THE STREET 5. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HADI, ONE OF THE WORKERS SAYING: "We gathered and
- Embargoed: 7th November 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA8PS6VNW0WVHLSAY2GK0WJ4H0
- Story Text: Four car bombs in Baghdad leave over 100 dead.
A suicide bomber in a minibus blew himself up among a large crowd of labourers gathering to look for work in Baghdad on Wednesday (September 14), killing at least 82 people and wounding 163, police said.
Witnesses said the blast in the mostly Shi'ite district of Kadhimiya tore through a group of mostly part-time labourers who had been waiting by the road hoping to secure day jobs.
An Interior Ministry source said the bomber pulled up in the minibus and called to a group of men to gather round saying he was looking for workers. He then detonated his explosives.
One source said up to 500 lbs (220 kilos) of explosives may have been used in the bomb.
Hazim al-Jumailim from al-Karkh medical department visited the wounded in al-Kadhimiya hospital, hailing the good job of the Iraq hospitals in al-Karkh medical department.
"Our hospitals in the Karkh medical department, Mohammed Bakir
al-Hakim, al-Karama, al-Karkh and al-Kadhimiya paediatric hospital all turned to be emergency hospitals to put the situation under control. We have till now 90 martyrs and 182 wounded," he said.
Bodies lay in the street beside burned-out cars, witnesses said. Some used wooden carts to haul away the dead.
Iraqi government officials have accused Sunni Arab militants of
attacking majority Shi'ites, who were swept to power in January elections, in a bid to spark a civil war.
Another suicide car bomb exploded in a residential area in Baghdad on killing four civilians and wounding 22 others, police said.
The attack took place in a mainly Shi'ite neighbourhood of Shuala of
western Baghdad.
"A car bomb near al-Ba'ath bridge targeted civilians. There was no
party or a police (station) or anything. Why they explode it (the car bomb) here. What did those innocent do? What did those women and children do? Are they Muslims? Why the blast near al-Kadhimiya mosque? 300 people killed there."
Witnesses said that the attack targeted the office of Moqtada al-Sadr in the area.
In a separate instance a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a US military convoy in Baghdad wounding at least two US soldiers, Iraqi police said.
The attack took place near the road that leads to al-Qanat area of
eastern Baghdad.
The US forces cordoned off the area immediately after the attack.
There is no report on casualties and the U.S. military could not be
immediately available for comment on the attack.
Insurgents frequently target U.S. convoys with suicide and car bombs in an attempt to drive the U.S. forces out of the country.
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