Bombers strike Baghdad for second day
ABC/AFP: Suicide bombers have struck Baghdad for the second consecutive day, killing at least 23 people, after a devastating string of similar attacks left some 150 dead and several hundred wounded.
The new wave of bombings in the capital followed an apparent declaration of all-out war against the country's Shiite majority by Al Qaeda's fugitive frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose supporters claimed Wednesday's attacks.
At least 23 Iraqis were killed, mostly policemen, and several dozen people were wounded, including two US soldiers, in four suicide car bombings today.
Three of them were in the predominantly Shiite southern district of Dura.
Another nine people were killed in other attacks across the country.
Four policemen and three Shiite pilgrims were shot dead as they walked from Baghdad to the holy city of Karbala.
A Shiite imam was killed and three people wounded when a bomb blew up near the gate to the Rowdha Al-Wadi mosque in the main northern city of Mosul, police said.
One civilian was killed and 16 wounded in south Baghdad when a bomb blasted a bus taking trade ministry employees to work.
Three unidentified bullet-riddled bodies were also discovered in the north of the capital and the bodies of four men, kidnapped on Wednesday on a highway near Latifiyah south of Baghdad, were found near Al-Arkanderiyah further south.
Wednesday was the deadliest day of attacks in Baghdad since the US-led invasion against Saddam Hussein's regime in March 2003.
Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for bombings, saying they were in revenge for a US-Iraqi crackdown on insurgents in the northern town of Tal Afar, near the Syrian border.
According to an audiotape posted on the Internet, Zarqawi also declared "all-out war" on Iraq's majority Shiites.
"Any religious group that wants to be safe from the blows of the mujahedeen (holy warriors) must (disavow) the government of (Shiite Prime Minister Ibrahim) Jaafari and its crimes. Otherwise it will suffer the same fate as that of the crusaders," according to the tape, the authenticity of which could not be verified. Link
The new wave of bombings in the capital followed an apparent declaration of all-out war against the country's Shiite majority by Al Qaeda's fugitive frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose supporters claimed Wednesday's attacks.
At least 23 Iraqis were killed, mostly policemen, and several dozen people were wounded, including two US soldiers, in four suicide car bombings today.
Three of them were in the predominantly Shiite southern district of Dura.
Another nine people were killed in other attacks across the country.
Four policemen and three Shiite pilgrims were shot dead as they walked from Baghdad to the holy city of Karbala.
A Shiite imam was killed and three people wounded when a bomb blew up near the gate to the Rowdha Al-Wadi mosque in the main northern city of Mosul, police said.
One civilian was killed and 16 wounded in south Baghdad when a bomb blasted a bus taking trade ministry employees to work.
Three unidentified bullet-riddled bodies were also discovered in the north of the capital and the bodies of four men, kidnapped on Wednesday on a highway near Latifiyah south of Baghdad, were found near Al-Arkanderiyah further south.
Wednesday was the deadliest day of attacks in Baghdad since the US-led invasion against Saddam Hussein's regime in March 2003.
Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for bombings, saying they were in revenge for a US-Iraqi crackdown on insurgents in the northern town of Tal Afar, near the Syrian border.
According to an audiotape posted on the Internet, Zarqawi also declared "all-out war" on Iraq's majority Shiites.
"Any religious group that wants to be safe from the blows of the mujahedeen (holy warriors) must (disavow) the government of (Shiite Prime Minister Ibrahim) Jaafari and its crimes. Otherwise it will suffer the same fate as that of the crusaders," according to the tape, the authenticity of which could not be verified. Link
posted by exoplanet at 2:25 PM
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