- Title: IRAQ: Minibus bomb kills 9 in western Iraq, second blast in Baghdad
- Date: 8th October 2009
- Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (OCTOBER 7, 2009) (REUTERS): SCENE OF BLAST VARIOUS OF DAMAGE CAUSED BY BLAST BLOOD STAIN ON GROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAAN, RESIDENT OF AREA, SAYING: "Yesterday, at about 0700 or 0730 a.m., we heard a bang and we rushed outside. We found that the attack had targeted the checkpoint. A man was seriously wounded and a child was also wounded in the attack. Some of the people said the attack was caused by a bomb and others say it was caused by a hand grenade. The man was rushed to hospital and we heard that he died on the way." DEBRIS ON GROUND TRAIL OF BLOOD ON GROUND
- Embargoed: 23rd October 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVACQ3E2L5LZPZ0Y3PWTYS9LMCRX
- Story Text: At least nine people are killed in an explosion in western Iraq, while an Iraqi soldier dies in a separate attack in Baghdad.
A minibus bomb exploded at a market in the western Iraqi town of Amiriya on Tuesday (October 6), killing at least nine people and wounding 31, a local official said.
Five of the dead were police officers, the leader of Amiriya al-Falluja town council told Reuters. Police said several cars were set on fire by the explosion.
A local restaurateur, whose business was damaged in the blast, said the area had been very busy when the bomb went off.
"I was sitting here and the workers were working inside and the customers were sitting inside and the area was crowded with people who were shopping, or those who came to see doctors or were just passers-by and all of a sudden a car exploded, damaging all these cars, as you see, and killing and hurting innocent people. We do not know the motive behind such an act and we do not know what the target was or why it happened," Abu Hadeer said.
Amiriya al-Falluja lies about 25 km (15 miles) south of the city of Falluja in the western province of Anbar.
It was the second big bomb in the large, desert province in as many days. On Monday, a suicide bomber walked into an Iraqi funeral tent and blew himself up in the western town of Haditha, killing at least six mourners.
Anbar province was once the epicentre of Iraq's insurgency and under the de facto rule of Sunni Islamist al Qaeda before it was routed by Sunni tribes allied with U.S. forces in 2007.
Although it has calmed down since then, militants still strike there periodically with spectacular bomb attacks, usually aimed at civilians or Iraqi security forces.
In a separate attack, an Iraqi soldier was killed and a child was wounded in an attack on an Iraqi army checkpoint in Baghdad's eastern district of Al-Ghadeer late on Tuesday (October 6).
"We heard a bang and we rushed outside. We found that the attack had targeted the checkpoint. A man was seriously wounded and a child was also wounded in the attack. Some of the people said the attack was caused by a bomb and others say it was caused by a hand grenade. The man was rushed to hospital and we heard that he died on the way," said Maan, who lives in the area.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is trying to woo voters across ethnic and sectarian divides before national elections scheduled for January, has been keen to portray himself as the man who brought security to a chaotic country.
He is fighting the election on law and order, pledging to keep improving security, which most Iraqis agree is better than it has been for many years.
However, despite repeated efforts to stamp it out, the predominantly Sunni Arab insurgency remains undefeated. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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