http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/08/200981981926646435.html
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
23:02 Mecca time, 20:02 GMT
Hundreds killed and hurt in Baghdad
Police said that explosions at the foreign and finance ministries
were caused by lorry bombs [Reuters]
At least 95 people have been killed and 500 injured in six blasts near the
government and diplomatic "Green Zone" in the centre of the Iraqi capital,
Baghdad, the police said.
Witnesses said that the two main attacks on Wednesday appeared to target the
foreign ministry and the finance ministry.
Police sources told Al Jazeera that the explosions, which took place within
minutes of each other, were caused by lorries loaded with explosives which had
been parked close to the buildings.
The blast outside the foreign ministry left a huge crater and severely damaged
the building.
In depth
Video: Green Zone security in Iraq
Video: Wave of blasts rock Baghdad
Iraq public key to security
Iraq security situation 'tenuous'
Inside Iraq: US exit policy
Major-General Qassim Atta, the spokesman for the Iraqi army's Baghdad
operations, said: "A truck bomb went off near the Salhiyeh intersection and it
caused casualties and a number of civilian cars were destroyed.
"We accuse the Baathist alliance of executing these terrorist operations," he
said in an apparent reference to the political party of Saddam Hussein, the
executed former president.
Television footage showed that the force of the explosions had blown out some
of the windows of Iraq's parliamentary building.
Two mortars also landed inside the heavily protected "Green Zone", while a
third landed outside.
The area, the site of government ministries and foreign embassies, has
frequently been targeted with rocket and mortar fire.
'Unacceptable' violence
Ahmed Rushdi, a journalist in Baghdad, told Al Jazeera: "These areas are
supposed [to be] very secure ... it is not only checkpoints, you are always
placing intelligence around this area to make it more secure.
ORDER OF ATTACKS
The first blast strikes near the finance ministry in northern Baghdad
Another huge explosion near the foreign ministry and near the Green Zone
A barrage of mortars strike the central Karada district
Explosions hit a market in the western neighbourhood of Bayaa. A lorry
full of explosives is defused near the cardiac hospital in Salhiya
Two mortar bombs land in the UN compound in the Green Zone. A third
explodes outside
All attacks were approximately three minutes apart.
"How are you going to say to people that Baghdad is now secure if you have so
many explosions in this area?"
The attacks came six years to the day after a lorry bomb exploded outside the
UN offices at the Canal Hotel killing 22 people.
Saad Muttalibi, an adviser to Iraq's ministry of national dialogue and
reconciliation, said: "This is the continutation of the evil plans of people
who cannot see a stable, free Iraq and people with the intention of keeping
American forces in Iraq after the agreement that was signed for the Americans
to leave.
"I think that this escalation of violence in Iraq is totally unacceptable as it
is effecting the ordinary citizens," he told Al Jazeera.
Wednesday's attacks made it the bloodiest day in the Iraqi capital since June
24 when 62 people were killed after a bomb on a motorcycle rickshaw exploded in
the predominantly Shia Muslim neighbourhood of Sadr City.
Despite a reduction in violence in recent months, attacks on security forces
and civilians remain common in Baghdad and the northern cities of Mosul and
Kirkuk.
The number of violent deaths fell by a third last month to 275 from 437 in
June, following the pullout of US combat forces from urban areas at the end of
the month.
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