UPDATED ON:
Monday, July 28, 2008
17:16 Mecca time, 14:16 GMT
News Middle East
Iraq hit by spate of suicide blasts
Heavy security had been deployed for the Shia festival [AFP]
Three bomb attacks in quick succession have killed at least 25 people and
wounded 73 others in Baghdad as Shia pilgrims entered the Iraqi capital for a
major religious event, according to police.
Initial reports showed all three explosions on Monday were caused by female
suicide bombers.
In the northern city of Kirkuk In Kirkuk, Iraqi officials said two suicide
attacks killed at least 22 people and wounded at least 80 more during a protest
against a draft provincial election law.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack.
At least one million people are expected to visit the Kadhimiya shrine in
northwestern Baghdad for the pilgrimage, which climaxes on Tuesday.
Pilgrims targeted
Iraqi security forces have increased security in the area, including a team of
female guards to specifically search women.
The explosions took place in the streets near the Karrada district of central
Baghdad, an area which many pilgrims pass through on their way to the shrine.
"At about 8am [05:00 GMT] three female suicide bombers detonated themselves
among pilgrims heading to Kazimiyah," Brigadier General Qassim al-Moussawi,
Baghdad's military commander, said in a statement posted on his website.
Television pictures showed police, firemen and other workers washing blood and
clearing debris from the street at the scene of one of the blasts in Baghdad.
Police and health officials said that most of the dead were women and children.
"I heard women and children crying and shouting and I saw burned women as dead
bodies lied in pools of blood on the street," Mustapha Abdullah, a 32-year-old
man who was injured in the stomach and legs, said from hospital.
Taher Abd-Noor, one of the pilgrims, told the Reuters news agency: "These
blasts that happened today will increase our determination to finalise this
ceremony ... and defeat terrorism."
It was the deadliest attack in Baghdad since June 17, when a lorry loaded with
explosives blew up in Hurriyah district killing at least 63 people.
Monday's violence in Baghdad followed the deaths of seven Shia pilgrims in the
city's south the previous day as they were making their way to the Kadhimiya
shrine on foot.
Kirkuk bombing
In Kirkuk, thousands of people had been protesting against the draft law, an
earlier version of which was opposed by Kurdish MPs and rejected by the
president and vice-presidents.
Bombers in Kirkuk targeted a protest against an election law [EPA]
Witnesses said the explosions caused a stampede as people rushed for safety.
Mosques called for people to give blood, while television footage showed
Kirkuk's main hospital packed with wounded, some lying on a floor slick with
blood because of a lack of beds.
Police said that a third bomb was found in a car, which was about to explode
near the protesters, but it was dismantled.
A curfew has been imposed on Kirkuk, which is home to Kurds, Turkomen, Arabs
and other smaller ethnic groups, until Tuesday morning.
Although not part of the autonomous Kurdish area in the north, many Kurds see
the northern city as historically Kurdish.
Security improvements
Before the event, Iraq officials had said they expected many more people to
attend this year's pilgrimage in Baghdad, which marks the death of one of Shia
Islam's 12 Imams, because of improved security.
Violence has fallen to four-year lows, with al-Qaeda now mainly confined to the
country's north after being pushed from former strongholds in Baghdad and
Iraq's west.
The White House Monday condemned Monday's suicide bombings and urged Iraqis to
respond with "calm determination".
"The United States condemns the violent attacks on innocent Iraqis. We urge the
Iraqi people and government to respond with calm determination to the threat
from violent extremists who seek to destabilise the country," Gordon Johndroe,
national security council spokesman, said.
Al-Qaeda has often targeted Shia pilgrims taking part in religious events in
Iraq. It considers Shia Islam - the majority Muslim denomination in Iraq -
heretical.
Other Shia religious events in Iraq in recent months have passed relatively
peacefully.
The Kadhimiya pilgrimage was marred in 2005 by one of the worst losses of life
in a single incident since the 2003 US-led invasion, when rumours of a bomb
attack triggered a stampede among pilgrims crossing a bridge leading to the
shrine.
Up to 1,000 people were killed.
Source: Agencies
---------------
Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo
Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu
dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif.
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