4 bombings kill 157 people in Baghdad
inmytree
Posts: 4,741
meanwhile.....in other news...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070418/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
4 bombings kill 157 people in Baghdad
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago
BAGHDAD - Four large bombs exploded in mostly Shiite areas of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 157 people and wounding scores as violence climbed toward levels seen before the U.S.-Iraqi campaign to pacify the capital began two months ago.
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In the deadliest of the attacks, a parked car bomb detonated in a crowd of workers at the Sadriyah market in central Baghdad, killing at least 112 people and wounding 115, said Raad Muhsin, an official at Al-Kindi Hospital where the victims were taken.
A police official confirmed the toll, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Among the dead were several construction workers who had been rebuilding the mostly Shiite marketplace after a bombing destroyed many shops and killed 137 people there in February, the police official said.
The laborers typically finish work around 4 p.m. each day. One of those wounded, 28-year-old Salih Mustafa, said he was waiting for a minibus to head home when the blast went off at 4:05 p.m.
"I rushed with others to give a hand and help the victims," he said. "I saw three bodies in a wooden cart, and civilian cars were helping to transfer the victims. It was really a horrible scene."
The market is situated on a side street lined with shops and vendors selling produce, meat and other staples. It is also about 500 yards from a Sunni shrine.
About an hour earlier, a suicide car bomber crashed into an Iraqi police checkpoint at an entrance to Sadr City, the capital's biggest Shiite Muslim neighborhood and a stronghold for the militia led by radical anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The explosion killed at least 30 people, including five Iraqi security officers, and wounded 45, police said.
Black smoke billowed from a jumble of at least eight incinerated vehicles that were in a jam of cars stopped at the checkpoint. Bystanders scrambled over twisted metal to drag victims from the smoldering wreckage as Iraqi guards staggered around stunned.
Earlier, a parked car exploded near a private hospital in the central neighborhood of Karradah, killing 11 people and wounding 13, police said. The blast damaged the Abdul-Majid hospital and other nearby buildings.
The fourth explosion was from a bomb left on a minibus in the central Rusafi area, area, killing four people and wounding six others, police said.
Also in Baghdad, four policemen were killed Wednesday afternoon when gunmen ambushed their patrol south of the city center, police said. Six pedestrians were wounded in the gunfire.
U.S. officials had cited a slight decrease in sectarian killings in Baghdad since the U.S.-Iraqi crackdown was launched Feb. 14. But the past week has seen several spectacular attacks on the capital, including a suicide bombing inside parliament and a powerful blast that collapsed a landmark bridge across the Tigris River.
"We've seen both inspiring progress and too much evidence that we still face many grave challenges," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman, told reporters Wednesday. "We've always said securing Baghdad would not be easy."
Meanwhile, to the west of the city, U.S. troops killed five suspected insurgents and captured 30 others in a raid in Anbar province, a day after police uncovered 17 decomposing corpses beneath two school yards in the provincial capital.
The raid took place early Wednesday near Karmah, a town northeast of Fallujah in Anbar, which has been a stronghold for Sunni insurgents.
American forces raided a group of buildings suspected of being used by militants and found explosives inside one of them, the military said in a statement. A helicopter was called in and dropped precision-guided bombs on the buildings, it said.
The soldiers came under fire and shot back, killing five Iraqis and wounding four others, the statement said. The wounded were taken to a military hospital and remained in U.S. custody. Twenty-six other people were detained as well, the military said.
The bodies found a day earlier at school yards in Ramadi, Anbar's provincial capital, were discovered after students and teachers returned to the schools a week ago and noticed an increasingly putrid odor and stray dogs digging in the area, police Maj. Laith al-Dulaimi said.
Ramadi had been a stronghold of Sunni insurgents and al-Qaida fighters until recently, when U.S. forces in the region and the Iraqi government successfully negotiated with many local tribal leaders to split them off from the more militant insurgent groups.
The U.S. military also reported that a suspected insurgent was killed and eight captured in two raids north of Baghdad on Wednesday. Some of the suspects were believed linked to al-Qaida in
Iraq and to a militant cell that has used chlorine in car bombings, the statement said.
Separately, U.S. officials announced that last week they found 3,000 gallons of nitric acid hidden in a warehouse in downtown Baghdad. U.S. forces discovered the acid, a key fertilizer component that can also be used in explosives, during a routine search Thursday, the military said.
Iraqi troops also took charge of security Wednesday in the southern province of Maysan, a region that borders
Iran and the fourth province to come under full Iraqi security control since the 2003 U.S. invasion.
A ceremony was held in Maysan's provincial capital of Amarah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, and was attended by senior Iraqi and coalition officials including Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie and the British commander in southern Iraq, Maj. Gen. Jonathan Shaw.
Al-Rubaie said that in order for a timetable to be set for the withdrawal of foreign troops, Iraqi forces and local authorities have to be ready to take over. He was apparently referring to calls by some Sunni Arab groups and al-Sadr's Shiite followers to set a timetable for a pullout.
"We should work to create these circumstances in all provinces, in order to revert security to Iraqis and end the foreign presence," said al-Rubaie, who represented Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the commander in chief of Iraq's armed forces.
Al-Maliki was supposed to attend the ceremony but his trip was canceled without explanation.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070418/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
4 bombings kill 157 people in Baghdad
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago
BAGHDAD - Four large bombs exploded in mostly Shiite areas of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 157 people and wounding scores as violence climbed toward levels seen before the U.S.-Iraqi campaign to pacify the capital began two months ago.
ADVERTISEMENT
In the deadliest of the attacks, a parked car bomb detonated in a crowd of workers at the Sadriyah market in central Baghdad, killing at least 112 people and wounding 115, said Raad Muhsin, an official at Al-Kindi Hospital where the victims were taken.
A police official confirmed the toll, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Among the dead were several construction workers who had been rebuilding the mostly Shiite marketplace after a bombing destroyed many shops and killed 137 people there in February, the police official said.
The laborers typically finish work around 4 p.m. each day. One of those wounded, 28-year-old Salih Mustafa, said he was waiting for a minibus to head home when the blast went off at 4:05 p.m.
"I rushed with others to give a hand and help the victims," he said. "I saw three bodies in a wooden cart, and civilian cars were helping to transfer the victims. It was really a horrible scene."
The market is situated on a side street lined with shops and vendors selling produce, meat and other staples. It is also about 500 yards from a Sunni shrine.
About an hour earlier, a suicide car bomber crashed into an Iraqi police checkpoint at an entrance to Sadr City, the capital's biggest Shiite Muslim neighborhood and a stronghold for the militia led by radical anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The explosion killed at least 30 people, including five Iraqi security officers, and wounded 45, police said.
Black smoke billowed from a jumble of at least eight incinerated vehicles that were in a jam of cars stopped at the checkpoint. Bystanders scrambled over twisted metal to drag victims from the smoldering wreckage as Iraqi guards staggered around stunned.
Earlier, a parked car exploded near a private hospital in the central neighborhood of Karradah, killing 11 people and wounding 13, police said. The blast damaged the Abdul-Majid hospital and other nearby buildings.
The fourth explosion was from a bomb left on a minibus in the central Rusafi area, area, killing four people and wounding six others, police said.
Also in Baghdad, four policemen were killed Wednesday afternoon when gunmen ambushed their patrol south of the city center, police said. Six pedestrians were wounded in the gunfire.
U.S. officials had cited a slight decrease in sectarian killings in Baghdad since the U.S.-Iraqi crackdown was launched Feb. 14. But the past week has seen several spectacular attacks on the capital, including a suicide bombing inside parliament and a powerful blast that collapsed a landmark bridge across the Tigris River.
"We've seen both inspiring progress and too much evidence that we still face many grave challenges," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman, told reporters Wednesday. "We've always said securing Baghdad would not be easy."
Meanwhile, to the west of the city, U.S. troops killed five suspected insurgents and captured 30 others in a raid in Anbar province, a day after police uncovered 17 decomposing corpses beneath two school yards in the provincial capital.
The raid took place early Wednesday near Karmah, a town northeast of Fallujah in Anbar, which has been a stronghold for Sunni insurgents.
American forces raided a group of buildings suspected of being used by militants and found explosives inside one of them, the military said in a statement. A helicopter was called in and dropped precision-guided bombs on the buildings, it said.
The soldiers came under fire and shot back, killing five Iraqis and wounding four others, the statement said. The wounded were taken to a military hospital and remained in U.S. custody. Twenty-six other people were detained as well, the military said.
The bodies found a day earlier at school yards in Ramadi, Anbar's provincial capital, were discovered after students and teachers returned to the schools a week ago and noticed an increasingly putrid odor and stray dogs digging in the area, police Maj. Laith al-Dulaimi said.
Ramadi had been a stronghold of Sunni insurgents and al-Qaida fighters until recently, when U.S. forces in the region and the Iraqi government successfully negotiated with many local tribal leaders to split them off from the more militant insurgent groups.
The U.S. military also reported that a suspected insurgent was killed and eight captured in two raids north of Baghdad on Wednesday. Some of the suspects were believed linked to al-Qaida in
Iraq and to a militant cell that has used chlorine in car bombings, the statement said.
Separately, U.S. officials announced that last week they found 3,000 gallons of nitric acid hidden in a warehouse in downtown Baghdad. U.S. forces discovered the acid, a key fertilizer component that can also be used in explosives, during a routine search Thursday, the military said.
Iraqi troops also took charge of security Wednesday in the southern province of Maysan, a region that borders
Iran and the fourth province to come under full Iraqi security control since the 2003 U.S. invasion.
A ceremony was held in Maysan's provincial capital of Amarah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, and was attended by senior Iraqi and coalition officials including Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie and the British commander in southern Iraq, Maj. Gen. Jonathan Shaw.
Al-Rubaie said that in order for a timetable to be set for the withdrawal of foreign troops, Iraqi forces and local authorities have to be ready to take over. He was apparently referring to calls by some Sunni Arab groups and al-Sadr's Shiite followers to set a timetable for a pullout.
"We should work to create these circumstances in all provinces, in order to revert security to Iraqis and end the foreign presence," said al-Rubaie, who represented Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the commander in chief of Iraq's armed forces.
Al-Maliki was supposed to attend the ceremony but his trip was canceled without explanation.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
why cant they just get along?
Who says that the militias are Al Qaeda backed or based. I'm sure some might be, but from what reports have stated the majority are not.
I sure hope not. I really dont know for sure. I know Iran plays a role in the violence. its just so fucked up.
I cant seem to figure out who wants peace in Iraq. if they dont, then we should give them what they want and leave and let them kill each other. I dont think america will be less safe cuz we will never completely leave Iraq. we can bomb el queda camps if they pop up somewhere. but for know, I see no other option except to sit back and let them kill each other.
Unfortunetly I think that may be our best option. I hate to say it because the majority of the people killed are just your average citizen trying to live a normal life, but it seems that the divide between Sunni and Shi'ite has even infected their government.
Another solution would be to just divide the country. Iraq is a product of English colonialization. Taking three former caliphs of the Ottoman Empire and making a country out of it. Maybe it's just impossible for all the different factions there to come to a lasting piece.
Unfortunately we created this mess. We didn't create the infighting between Sunni's and Shiite obviously but we did create the vacuum for the civil war to start. Saddam wasn't a terrorist in the sense that he wanted to kill American civilians etc....he was a mob boss basically who ruled like a madman partly because he had to.
It burns me that a bunch of pseudo intellectuals in Neo Conservative think tanks (who knew nothing of war and less about Sunni/Shiite relations) dreamed up this war with their grand fucking vision. What a shame. Of course all these war architects have moved on to cushy gigs like President of the World Bank etc.
The Presidnent GWB didnt even know there were different types of Muslims in Iraq...he was too busy getting his war presidentin' on.
As much as the President and his administration is responsible for our invasion of Iraq let's not forget that our Congress, both Republican and Democrats alike, signed over their authority to wage war to him without a single quastion being asked. In my opinion they are just as responsible for this mess as he is.
Yep. and the media gave him a free ride too.
But make no mistake - this war was 100% driven by The Vice Presidents Office and the Pentagon.
I find it amusing now that GWB et al are projecting their failures in Iraq on others. Their war, their war plan, their post war "plan", etc.
Well that's just typical politics. Not that I think it's right for them to do that but nothing any politicians does suprises me.
I agree, splitting Iraq up into 3 sections may be the best course of action at this point...the notion is not a new one...so, it may work if it's done in a fair manner...
either way, some sort of new action, other than force, must be taken to address this mess...perhaps something as simple as getting on the phone to iran and syria...track down al sadar and talk to him...whether we like it or not, he has a lot of power...
and if they want to have a civil war...so be it...it's not like it can be stopped...
Isn't it a tad Ironic how Saddam killed and hated the same terrorists?
America...Fuck yeah! ...coming again to save the muddafaakin day yeeah!
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
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The problem with splitting them up is, what do you do about all that oil? who gets to control it?
Revenue sharing. The revenue from all oil sales is equally distributed amongst all three countries.
perhaps it can be split up into states, like the US, and they can share...
heck, I don't know...what I do know is that what is currently in place is not working...
I guess build a nuke proof dome over the entire US and don't let anyone in....
Canada might kick in a few bucks to help build it... Our grand children's grand children can pay up for it.
Are there any political or military strategists employed in the US?
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
I am planning to kind of search other news outlets when I have some time to see if anything similar happened this time around. Maybe someone here has already begun doing that.
Gates in Iraq in wake of carnage
Story Highlights
• New Baghdad suicide blast kills at least 12
• U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrives in Iraq
• Commander arrested after Wednesday attacks kill 198, wound about 240
• "Weakness of security measures" in Baghdad cited as reason for arrest
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Iraq Thursday on the heels of a bloody 24-hour stretch in Baghdad that has left more than 200 people dead.
Gates -- who intends to meet with U.S. commanders and Iraqi government officials -- has been visiting other countries in the region and his stop in Iraq is an unannounced visit, a pool report said.
He is coming to the country as bombing assaults across the capital on Wednesday and Thursday claimed scores of victims.
At least 198 people were killed in six bombings on Wednesday and 12 more were killed in a blast on Thursday.
The carnage prompted shock and outrage worldwide and concern among U.S. and Iraqi troops trying to establish peace in Baghdad with its two-month old crackdown called Operation Enforcing the Law.
Ashraf Qazi, the U.N. special representative in Iraq, Thursday denounced the "killing and wounding more than 500 innocent civilians, including men, women and children," saying the attacks were "malicious and premeditated mass murders, aimed at tearing apart prospects for peaceful and lasting coexistence among Iraq's different communities."
He urged all Iraqis "to resist being pushed into the abyss of calamitous sectarianism" and "called on Iraqi authorities to vigorously pursue the criminal perpetrators of these atrocious acts and bring them to justice."
Many of those killed on Wednesday died in a blast at the Sadriya market, one of the capital's oldest and busiest venues. The Interior Ministry said 140 were killed and 150 were wounded in that incident.
It was the worst bombing in the Iraqi capital since the 4-year-old war began, topping the February toll of 130 dead in a bombing in the same marketplace.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office later said a brigade commander was arrested because of "the weakness of security measures put in place to protect civilians in Sadriya."
The arrested officer, whose name was not immediately released, was in command of the 2nd Brigade of the Iraqi army's 2nd Division, and will face an investigative committee looking into the bombings.
Gates made remarks about Iraq while he was visiting the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Wednesday and stressed the need for political reconciliation.
"I think that there is progress being made. I believe that faster progress can be made in the political reconciliation process in Iraq," Gates said.
He said there could be progress once "sectarian" factions "decide to live peacefully with one another."
Gates explained that there aren't "thousands of people in the streets in Iraq trying to kill each other."
"What you have are armed gangs of death squads going around killing people. You have large vehicle-borne IEDs that are being used by al Qaeda to try to bring massive casualties to the Shia in hope of stoking sectarian violence."
And, he said, "you have a Baathist insurgency."
"These are not mass movements." he said, "and so if there is a political reconciliation the Iraqi security forces, with some of our help and that of our coalition partners, I think, are in a position to control both the insurgency, the death squads and al Qaeda."
But, he emphasized, "we need for all of the parties involved to help with the process of reconciliation."
You Know Iran plays a role in the violence? That's funny, because certain fish-heads in your Government of crooks and liars have also been saying the same thing, and like you, they've provided no evidence.
Edit: By the way, good to grapple with ya again! It's been a while!
There has been intel reports of Iran providing assistance to certian Shi'ite groups in Iraq. Then again Saudi Arabia is also providing assistance to Sunni groups but we never hear about that.
As you said, the idea of splitting Iraq is not new, a spokeperson (i think he was a kurd) made an adress in Montreal University, talking about how they'd like Iraq to be divided in a federation, province etc., using Canada as an example. The problem seem to be the natural ressources revenue and sharing, it would make some provinces a lot more powerfull and rich than others... just like Canada hehe...
I'm a firm opposant of this war, but i think Iraquis must stop the violence. The solution is in their hands, not at the UN, not in Iran, not in al quaida, not in Israel and OBVIOUSLY not in the White House. Of course USA army did create the vacuum for this situation, but blaming past mistake will do absolutly nothing for Iraq in the future.
It's also time to make the Iraq government responsible for the lack of civil liberties, they must find solutions, if they don't, there's something called elections, they said Iraq was a democracy after all, let's test it.
Nothing else will settle the situation, American army already failed (never had any other plan than finding WMD and it shows now), no other country want to help, so it's time for them to take their country's future in their hands, right now it seem like they "choose" the civil war path, and they probably have to do it to realize it won't change as long as they keep fighting, if they don't then they'll always be fighting, and while they're fighting other nations or organisations will take advantage of the situation.
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau
'Intel reports'? Yeah. Right. Like those intel reports which said Iraq was an imminent threat to the U.S and Britain in 1993?
'Intel reports state that...'
'Sources state that...'
'Experts state that...'
'Officials state that....'
"I state.....bollocks"!