http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=123491&d=11&m=6&y=2009&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Thursday 11 June 2009 (17 Jumada al-Thani 1430)
Car bomb leaves 35 dead in southern Iraq
Hamid Ahmed I AP
DEATH AND DESTRUCTION: Iraqis look at wreckage after the car
bombing in the town of Bathaa, about 320 km southeast of Baghdad, on Wednesday.
(AP)
BAGHDAD: A car bomb ripped through a market district yesterday in
southern Iraq, killing as many as 35 people and wounding dozens, officials said.
The blast is the latest in a series of high-profile explosions that have
raised concerns about a resurgence of violence as the US military faces a June
30 deadline to withdraw from urban areas in Iraq.
The explosives-laden car was parked in the center of the commercial area
in the town of Bathaa when it blew up around 9 a.m., according to police.
Angry townspeople swarmed around police in the wake of the attack,
cursing and blaming them for failing to prevent the bombing.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, but car bombings are a
signature of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The US military has warned Al-Qaeda could be
expected to try to foment sectarian violence in a bid to upset security gains
ahead of the US withdrawal.
Persistent violence as the Americans begin to withdraw has raised new
questions about the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over their own security.
Officials gave conflicting death tolls yesterday, as is common in the chaotic
aftermath of bombings in Iraq. They also faced the difficulty of gathering
information from a small town. A spokesman for the Nasiriyah hospital, Kadhim
Al-Obeidi, said 35 people were killed and 45 wounded.
An Interior Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because
he's not authorized to release the information, put the death toll at 28.
Sajad Sharhan, the head of the provincial security committee, said 29
people were killed and 55 wounded.
The area has been the site of past violence - mainly fierce internal
fighting between Shiite militia factions before a cease-fire took hold.
Pictures posted online by local journalists showed the charred wreck of a
car the bomb was planted in, burned body parts and bloodstained rags among
vegetables strewn on the floor.
Schoolteacher Hussein Salim said the market was supposed to be guarded by
the police. He said he rushed to the scene and helped gather body parts, some
of which had been blown onto the roof of nearby homes.
"How could the car enter the market? It was crowded with people ... The
police neglected their job," he said. "I saw five children and six women among
the dead." Angry locals protested when the area's police chief and governor
arrived on the scene, Salim said. This prompted the governor's bodyguards to
open fire though it was unclear if the shots were aimed at the crowd or in the
air.
Dhi Qar province, of which Nasiriyah is the administrative capital, was
the second province to be transferred from US-led coalition control to the
Iraqis in September 2006.
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