Bombers claim more lives in Iraq
WALEED IBRAHIM
Reuters
July 8, 2007 at 12:39 PM EDT
BAGHDAD — A suicide truck bomber killed 23 new Iraqi army recruits when he rammed into their vehicle south of Baghdad on Sunday, police said, a day after a huge truck bomb killed 150 people in the north of the country.
Police and army officials said the bomber drove into a truck carrying the Sunni Arab recruits to Baghdad just after they had joined the army in western Anbar province. They said 27 recruits were wounded in the attack near the town of Haswa.
Sunni Arab tribal leaders in Anbar have rounded up thousands of men to join local security forces to fight Sunni Islamist al-Qaeda, partly in anger over the militant group's indiscriminate killing of civilians and harsh interpretation of Islam.
Two car bombs killed eight people in Baghdad, police added.
Enlarge Image veiled Iraqi girl stands next to a burned vehicle, as she came to inspect, 08 July 2007 the site of an alleged overnight military raid in Baghdad's southeastern Al-Maamel area. Residents said several people were killed during the raid. AFP PHOTO/WISSAM AL-OKAILI (Photo credit should read (Wissam Al-Okaili/AFP/Getty Images)
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In the northern Shiite town of Tuz Khurmato, police and residents used heavy machines and shovels to search for more bodies under the rubble of nearly 100 shops and homes in the wake of Saturday's massive truck bomb blast.
Across the town, relatives mourned and buried their dead.
“I can't comprehend what has happened. My entire family was killed in one moment,” said Abbas Kadhim, who told Reuters the blast levelled his house, killing his wife, his two sons aged six and eight, his parents and also a brother.
“There is no value left in my life ... I have asked God why I didn't just die with them so I wouldn't have to go through this torture.”
The death toll of 150 made it the second deadliest insurgent bombing in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. In March, a truck bomb attack also blamed on al-Qaeda killed 152 people in the northern town of Tal Afar.
The surge in bombings comes despite a major U.S. and Iraqi military offensive that has focused largely on Baghdad and the beltways around the capital, where U.S. commanders believe a lot of car bombs are put together.
The offensive has driven many militants out of Baghdad to areas where the troop presence is not as heavy.
U.S. officials blame most big car bombings on al-Qaeda, which they say is trying to trigger civil war between Iraq's majority Shiites and minority Sunni Arabs.
The suicide truck bomber struck the new Iraqi soldiers only hours after they had signed up in the town of Falluja, once a hotbed of the Sunni Arab insurgency.
Like other towns in Anbar, violence has dropped in Falluja since tribal elders last year turned against al-Qaeda, which once had a tight grip on the mainly Sunni Arab province.
That has forced many al-Qaeda militants out of Anbar, but others have fought back, sparking a bloody power struggle in the vast desert province.
Two police officers in the Shiite town of Tuz Khurmato confirmed 150 people had been killed in Saturday's explosion that Iraqi officials blamed on al-Qaeda. The officers said 20 people were still missing and 250 were wounded.
Many of the victims were women and children who were shopping. The parked truck was packed with explosives but covered with hay so it would not arouse suspicion, officials said.
Police said heavy machinery had been brought in from larger towns to dig through the rubble of the market in Tuz Khurmato, 185 kilometres north of Baghdad.
Security forces had cordoned off the area.
“I just visited the scene. It looks like an earthquake happened there,” Shalal Abid al-Ahmed, a member of the Salahuddin provincial council, told Reuters.
One policeman added: “People from the whole town of Tuz Khurmato are helping, some have brought along small shovels.”
http://tinyurl.com/36hbun
WALEED IBRAHIM
Reuters
July 8, 2007 at 12:39 PM EDT
BAGHDAD — A suicide truck bomber killed 23 new Iraqi army recruits when he rammed into their vehicle south of Baghdad on Sunday, police said, a day after a huge truck bomb killed 150 people in the north of the country.
Police and army officials said the bomber drove into a truck carrying the Sunni Arab recruits to Baghdad just after they had joined the army in western Anbar province. They said 27 recruits were wounded in the attack near the town of Haswa.
Sunni Arab tribal leaders in Anbar have rounded up thousands of men to join local security forces to fight Sunni Islamist al-Qaeda, partly in anger over the militant group's indiscriminate killing of civilians and harsh interpretation of Islam.
Two car bombs killed eight people in Baghdad, police added.
Enlarge Image veiled Iraqi girl stands next to a burned vehicle, as she came to inspect, 08 July 2007 the site of an alleged overnight military raid in Baghdad's southeastern Al-Maamel area. Residents said several people were killed during the raid. AFP PHOTO/WISSAM AL-OKAILI (Photo credit should read (Wissam Al-Okaili/AFP/Getty Images)
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Recent
In the northern Shiite town of Tuz Khurmato, police and residents used heavy machines and shovels to search for more bodies under the rubble of nearly 100 shops and homes in the wake of Saturday's massive truck bomb blast.
Across the town, relatives mourned and buried their dead.
“I can't comprehend what has happened. My entire family was killed in one moment,” said Abbas Kadhim, who told Reuters the blast levelled his house, killing his wife, his two sons aged six and eight, his parents and also a brother.
“There is no value left in my life ... I have asked God why I didn't just die with them so I wouldn't have to go through this torture.”
The death toll of 150 made it the second deadliest insurgent bombing in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. In March, a truck bomb attack also blamed on al-Qaeda killed 152 people in the northern town of Tal Afar.
The surge in bombings comes despite a major U.S. and Iraqi military offensive that has focused largely on Baghdad and the beltways around the capital, where U.S. commanders believe a lot of car bombs are put together.
The offensive has driven many militants out of Baghdad to areas where the troop presence is not as heavy.
U.S. officials blame most big car bombings on al-Qaeda, which they say is trying to trigger civil war between Iraq's majority Shiites and minority Sunni Arabs.
The suicide truck bomber struck the new Iraqi soldiers only hours after they had signed up in the town of Falluja, once a hotbed of the Sunni Arab insurgency.
Like other towns in Anbar, violence has dropped in Falluja since tribal elders last year turned against al-Qaeda, which once had a tight grip on the mainly Sunni Arab province.
That has forced many al-Qaeda militants out of Anbar, but others have fought back, sparking a bloody power struggle in the vast desert province.
Two police officers in the Shiite town of Tuz Khurmato confirmed 150 people had been killed in Saturday's explosion that Iraqi officials blamed on al-Qaeda. The officers said 20 people were still missing and 250 were wounded.
Many of the victims were women and children who were shopping. The parked truck was packed with explosives but covered with hay so it would not arouse suspicion, officials said.
Police said heavy machinery had been brought in from larger towns to dig through the rubble of the market in Tuz Khurmato, 185 kilometres north of Baghdad.
Security forces had cordoned off the area.
“I just visited the scene. It looks like an earthquake happened there,” Shalal Abid al-Ahmed, a member of the Salahuddin provincial council, told Reuters.
One policeman added: “People from the whole town of Tuz Khurmato are helping, some have brought along small shovels.”
http://tinyurl.com/36hbun