IRAQ: Violence continues across the country as Iraqi National assembly approves line-up of unity government

Record ID: 858202

  • Title: IRAQ: Violence continues across the country as Iraqi National assembly approves line-up of unity government
  • Date: 20th May 2006
  • Summary: (BN04) SADR CITY BAGHDAD , IRAQ ( MAY 20 , 2006) ( REUTERS) PEOPLE GATHERED AT THE SITE OF THE BLAST DAMAGE AT THE SITE BLOOD PEOPLE AT THE SITE VICTIM SHOES MAN CRYING AND HUGGING HIS DEAD RELATIVE VARIOUS OF COVERED BODIES MAN CRYING COVERED BODIES
  • Embargoed: 4th June 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • City:
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVAC93DKL17DS1KJ533SUJVIIEPX
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Violence continued across Iraq as Iraqi national assembly was approving a line-up of unity government .
    A mortar landed in a Sunni mosque in western Baghdad on Saturday ( May 20 ) killing two and wounding three others , police and witnesses said .
    The mortar hit Fakhri Ibrahim Shanshal mosque in Hay al Jihad district in western Baghdad while worshipper were leaving the mosque after the prayer .
    A bomb exploded on British military vehicle in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Saturday (May 20) destroying the vehicle. Two British soldiers were injured in the bombing according to Iraqi police.
    People in the district of Al Kzayazah gathered at the site after the blast and set the vehicle on fire. British troops rushed to the area.
    A Ministry of Defence spokesman confirmed that the British-led multinational force troops in Basra, southern Iraq, had been involved in "an incident" at 12.18pm local time (9.18am British time). He could not say whether any British troops had been injured.
    On Thursday (May 18) British Defence Secretary Des Browne met troops in Basra.
    Meanwhile a bomb killed 19 people in east Baghdad among a crowd of Shi'ite labourers gathered to look for work on Saturday, hours before Iraq's parliament confirmed a new, national unity government in office.
    Police said 58 others were wounded in the attack in the poor Sadr City district. It was typical of bombings by minority Sunni Islamist groups like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq.
    Witnesses and police said the bomb appeared to have been planted in a spot where the attackers knew large crowds of men would gather shortly after dawn, hoping to be hired for a day's casual labour. Such spots have been targeted in the past.
    A man beat his face with his hands as he hugged his dead brother lying on the floor. Survivors rushed the wounded to hospital. A dozen bodies, their faces covered with cardboard, lay on the hospital garden.
    In the town of Mussayib, 40 miles south of Baghdad, fifteen bodies were found, on Friday ( May 19) the Iraqi police said .
    It was unclear when the 15 men, with bullet holes and signs of being tortured, had been killed .
    Resident of Mussayib buried their dead on Saturday ( May 20).
    Sectarian violence has jumped dramatically since the bombing of a major Shi'ite Muslim shrine in February. The U.S. military estimates attacks on civilians have doubled since the bombing.
    In Baquba , 40 miles northeast of Baghdad, a mortar landed on a civilian area late on Friday (May 19), killing three people and wounding three others , police at the city said .
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