Ref: Untuk melihat vide footage, click link : http://www.smh.com.au/world/52-dead-iraq-marks-10-years-of-war-with-another-grim-day-20130320-2ge8s.html
52 dead: Iraq marks 10 years of war with another grim day Date March 20, 2013 - 7:38AM Recommended a.. Click to play video Ukraine parliament turns into brawl b.. Click to play video Pope Francis’ inauguration inspires hope c.. Click to play video Violence commemorates Iraq war d.. Click to play video Excitement in Argentina ahead of Pope inauguration e.. Click to play video Rockefeller imposter goes on trial for murder Replay video BAGHDAD: Iraq closed a painful decade just as it began: with explosions reverberating around the capital. Beginning with the assassination of a Ministry of Finance official by a bomb attached to his vehicle and continuing for hours on Tuesday, the attacks were a devastating reminder of the violence that regularly afflicts Iraq. By midmorning, the familiar sight of black smoke rose above the city. By mid-afternoon, the numbers stacked up: 52 dead and nearly 180 wounded in attacks that included 16 car bombs, two adhesive bombs stuck to cars, and one assassination with a silenced gun. Most attacks hit Shiite neighborhoods, and their targets were varied: restaurants, a bank, a vegetable market and a parking garage. Others were near a courthouse and a university, and some seemed to have no target other than passers-by. Stark reminder ... Iraqis watch smoke rising from the site of one of Tuesday's bomb attacks in a Shiite neighbourhood of Baghdad. Photo: Reuters Many Iraqis say they are worried about an increase in sectarian tension and, while there were no immediate claims of responsibility, the attacks were carried out in the fashion of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Sunni insurgent group left weakened but not vanquished by the US military. Advertisement A couple of hours after a car bomb struck outside his apartment building in the Shiite neighborhood of New Baghdad, Shwan Jameel rummaged through the clothes and blankets, sprinkled with shards of glass, that were scattered around his spare bedroom until he found a blue nylon bag filled with memories. Inside were business cards of former bosses, badges he used to go into the Green Zone when he worked as a security guard for the US occupiers, and letters in support of a visa application to emigrate to the United States that he said had never been answered. Jameel’s family was unharmed by the morning’s blast, and he was able to conjure his sense of humour. Holding up an old badge showing a more chiseled version of himself, he said, ‘‘This is me, Tom Cruise. ‘‘I’m just smiling because it’s too crazy. Life is funny here.’’ But several people were killed or injured in that attack, including children in a minibus on their way to school. The kebab restaurant downstairs was severely damaged, and workers - not pausing to grieve - were already repairing windows and doors.In the apartment next to Jameel’s, now a mess of broken glass, scattered belongings and twisted window frames, a woman in a black abaya wailed, ‘‘Too much hurt, too much pain. Where should we go?’’ No one was hurt there, but the six children were terrified. ‘‘Poverty, hunger, pain,’’ said their mother, Layla Alwain, ticking off the features of her life. ‘‘We’ve got nothing, and it’s getting worse and worse. Our country is not developing like others.’’ Iraq's agonies unfurl at an unpredictable but relentless pace. Weeks of calm pass and a sense of normality returns, and then with certainty the cadence of everyday life is violently interrupted. In Shula, another Shiite neighborhood, a white truck arrived in the early morning at a vegetable market, with a load of pea pods hiding explosives. The result was a tangle of charred steel rods, rotting peas covered in a thick swarm of flies, and angry Shiite men determined that Iraq not slide back into widespread sectarian violence. "I don't think it will get as bad as before," said Ali Minghash, 30, who works at the vegetable market. "In each house now you have pain, and we don't want more pain." New York Times Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/52-dead-iraq-marks-10-years-of-war-with-another-grim-day-20130320-2ge8s.html#ixzz2O1ezMBRq [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
