IRAQ: Outbreak of violence in Iraq kills dozens across the country as attackers target the army and police and civilians
Record ID:
784171
IRAQ: Outbreak of violence in Iraq kills dozens across the country as attackers target the army and police and civilians
- Title: IRAQ: Outbreak of violence in Iraq kills dozens across the country as attackers target the army and police and civilians
- Date: 26th August 2010
- Summary: RAMADI, IRAQ (AUGUST 25, 2010) (REUTERS/AGENCY POOL) WIDE OF CROWD AT BLAST SCENE BLAST SCENE/ PEOPLE PEOPLE NEAR DAMAGED SHOPS VARIOUS OF CROWD/ WRECKED CAR AT BLAST SCENE DAMAGED HOUSE/ PEOPLE NEAR RUBBLE MEN NEAR DAMAGED HOUSE WRECKED CAR/ PEOPLE BLAST SCENE/ PEOPLE WALKING BY BAQUBA, IRAQ (AUGUST 25, 2010) (REUTERS/ AGENCY POOL) BLAST SCENE DAMAGED BUILDING MAN CLEANING SHOP/ REMOVING DEBRIS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) ABU MOHAMMED, A RESIDENT FROM BAQUBA SAYING: "If they (politicians) had formed the government, the situation would not be like that, the security situation would be better. The election happened a long time ago, but they have not formed the government. We are the only side which suffers from this." DAMAGED SHOP DAMAGED SHOPS NEAR BLAST SCENE TRAFFIC SCENE NEAR AREA OF BLAST
- Embargoed: 10th September 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVA9DW9P9MPKRDDY1CRBY9TTO9EI
- Story Text: Suicide bombers and other attackers killed at least 62 people in coordinated attacks on Iraqi security forces throughout the country on Wednesday (August 25), less than a week before U.S. troops formally end combat operations.
The bombings also wounded more than 250 people, underscoring the fragility of Iraq's security and the uncertainty of its political situation more than five months after an election that produced no outright winner and as yet no new government.
The geographic spread of the attacks on the security forces showed that while weakened, the insurgency retains the ability to organise and carry out a nationwide assault involving dozens of operatives under the noses of the authorities.
In the Iraqi capital a suicide truck bomber killed 15 people and wounded at least 56 in an attack on a police station, Interior Ministry and police sources said.
Parts of the police station in Baghdad's northern Qahira district collapsed and surrounding houses were severely damaged, the Interior Ministry source said.
"Today at 8:20 a.m. a suicide criminal vehicle infiltrated the area, targeting the residential area in al-Qahira neighbourhood. The car exploded causing damage to more than 30 houses and killing innocent people and policemen," said commander of civil defines forces general Abdul Rasool Jassim at the scene of the blast where the diggers were removing the rubble.
Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi put the death toll at four, with 35 wounded.
One policeman recalled the nightmare of the explosion.
"As I walked into the reception room inside the police centre, a blast happened. I do not know if it was a blast of a car bomb or a rocket. I saw my colleagues lying dead on ground because the building had fallen on them and then I lost conscious," said wounded policeman Ahmed, who was standing outside the Medical City of Baghdad where he was treated for wounds to his hands.
A bomb also went off near an Iraqi army convoy as it drove in western Baghdad on Wednesday wounding four army personnel, police sources said.
The attack, which took place in Baghdad's al-Amiriya district damaged one vehicle of the convoy. A civilian was killed in the attack, said Iraqi army at the scene.
A parked car bomb inside a bus station killed three people, including two policemen, and wounded 13 in central Ramadi, 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.
In another incident on Tuesday (August 24) a suicide car bomber targeting an Iraqi police checkpoint also killed three people, including two policemen, and wounded 13 in eastern Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
Baquba resident Abu Mohammed blamed the delay in forming the Iraqi government for the surge of violence.
"If they (politicians) had formed the government, the situation would not be like that, the security situation would be better. The election happened a long time ago, but they have not formed the government. We are the only side which suffers from this," said Abu Mohammed.
Iraq is on high alert for attacks by suspected al Qaeda-linked groups following the inconclusive March vote and ahead of the August 31 deadline for the 7-1/2-year U.S. combat mission to end, a promise made by President Barack Obama.
In the southern city of Kut, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Baghdad, a suicide car bomber hit a police station, killing at least 26 policemen, and wounding 87, said Lieutenant Colonel Aziz al-Amarah, commander of the rapid response police force in the southern province of Wasit.
In Baghdad's al-Amil district gunmen using weapons equipped with silencers killed one policeman and wounded another at a checkpoint. In the mainly Shi'ite district of Kadhimiya, a car bomb killed at least three people and wounded 14 others, a police source said.
Elsewhere in the country, at least 29 people were wounded when a car bomb went off near a police station in the holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala, 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Baghdad, a local health department source said.
In Buhriz, about 60 km (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, gunmen placed bombs near the houses of policemen and raised the flag of al Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate on one of the buildings, police sources said. Five people were wounded.
Other attacks in Diyala province, western Anbar province, and the northern city of Kirkuk brought the overall death toll from the seemingly coordinated attacks to over 50. The security forces appeared to be the main target. - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
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