IRAQ
Two terror attacks hit Baghdad markets
Friday, February 1, 2008
According to latest reports, two bombs—one carried by a female suicide bomber—killed at least 64 people and wounded many more in two separate Baghdad pet markets.
Friday, February 1, 2008
By AFP
Powerful blasts, one triggered by a female suicide bomber, killed more than 60 people as they ripped through two Baghdad pet markets on Friday, leaving trails of bloodied body parts, officials and witnesses said.
Interior and defence ministry officials said at least 107 people were wounded in the deadliest attacks in the Iraqi capital since last August 1, when three car bombs killed more than 80 people.
Police said the woman suicide bomber struck in the popular Al-Ghazl pet market in central Baghdad mid-morning as hundreds of people were out enjoying the Muslim weekly holiday, killing 46 people and wounding 82.
The head of the bomber was seen lying in a pool of blood as emergency workers gathered body parts and the personal effects of those killed and wounded, an AFP correspondent said.
A police colonel also at the scene said the bomber was a young mentally-handicapped woman.
Some bodies were packed into bags and put in the back of police pick-up trucks. Identity cards, watches and prayer beads retrieved from the scene were placed in a box.
Dead animals lay among the human flesh, while officials hosed down the site and ambulances raced away from the market, their sirens blaring.
The pet market blast echoed across the capital, which has seen a surge of bloodletting this year after a relative lull in the closing weeks of 2007, at around 10 am (0700 GMT).
A second bombing about 20 minutes later rocked a pet market in southeastern Baghdad Al-Jadida neighbourhood, which was also crowded with people on the Muslim weekend, security officials said.
At least 18 people were killed and 25 wounded in the Baghdad Al-Jadida blast, the officials said, raising the day's death toll from the two bombings to at least 64.
The dead and injured were taken to five hospitals across the city.
An official at Al-Kindi hospital said at least 34 bodies had been received. "We have a disaster here. There are too many bodies to count. Many of them are just pieces of flesh," he said.
The attack on Al-Ghazl was the second in months on the pet market, which opens only on Fridays and is always crowded.
Last November 23, two bombs hidden in boxes exploded simultaneously in Al-Ghazl market, killing 13 people.
Vendors use cardboard boxes to transport birds to the market which, with its vast array of birds ranging from rare species smuggled from Brazil and Africa to noisy parrots, is a major weekly attraction.
The traders arrive each Friday with birds and other animals such as rabbits and Siamese cats imported from Iran and set up roadside stalls.
The latest attacks came even as Iraqi officials reported civilian deaths across Iraq in January had fallen to a 23-month low.
Combined figures obtained from the defence, interior and health ministries showed that a total of 541 Iraqis -- 463 civilians, 22 soldiers and 56 policemen -- were killed in January.
The figure is down from 568 last December, 606 in November, 887 in October and 840 in September.
US military commanders say attacks of all types are down 62 percent after peaking in June, to levels not seen since before February 2006, when a wave of sectarian violence was unleashed by the bombing of a Shiite shrine in the city of Samarra.
Iraqi and US officials attribute the drop in violence to a "surge" of an extra 30,000 US troops in Iraq, the formation by Sunni leaders of anti-Qaeda fronts, and Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's freezing of the activities of his Mahdi Army militia.
But US commanders warn Iraq is still a dangerous place and that Al-Qaeda -- though on the run -- is far from defeated.
While the number of Iraqis killed in January fell, US casualties rose to 39 American soldiers killed during the month, up from 23 in December and on a par with figures in October and November.
Research data released in London this week estimated that more than one million Iraqis have died in violence in the country since the US-led invasion of 2003.
Interior and defence ministry officials said at least 107 people were wounded in the deadliest attacks in the Iraqi capital since last August 1, when three car bombs killed more than 80 people.
Police said the woman suicide bomber struck in the popular Al-Ghazl pet market in central Baghdad mid-morning as hundreds of people were out enjoying the Muslim weekly holiday, killing 46 people and wounding 82.
The head of the bomber was seen lying in a pool of blood as emergency workers gathered body parts and the personal effects of those killed and wounded, an AFP correspondent said.
A police colonel also at the scene said the bomber was a young mentally-handicapped woman.
Some bodies were packed into bags and put in the back of police pick-up trucks. Identity cards, watches and prayer beads retrieved from the scene were placed in a box.
Dead animals lay among the human flesh, while officials hosed down the site and ambulances raced away from the market, their sirens blaring.
The pet market blast echoed across the capital, which has seen a surge of bloodletting this year after a relative lull in the closing weeks of 2007, at around 10 am (0700 GMT).
A second bombing about 20 minutes later rocked a pet market in southeastern Baghdad Al-Jadida neighbourhood, which was also crowded with people on the Muslim weekend, security officials said.
At least 18 people were killed and 25 wounded in the Baghdad Al-Jadida blast, the officials said, raising the day's death toll from the two bombings to at least 64.
The dead and injured were taken to five hospitals across the city.
An official at Al-Kindi hospital said at least 34 bodies had been received. "We have a disaster here. There are too many bodies to count. Many of them are just pieces of flesh," he said.
The attack on Al-Ghazl was the second in months on the pet market, which opens only on Fridays and is always crowded.
Last November 23, two bombs hidden in boxes exploded simultaneously in Al-Ghazl market, killing 13 people.
Vendors use cardboard boxes to transport birds to the market which, with its vast array of birds ranging from rare species smuggled from Brazil and Africa to noisy parrots, is a major weekly attraction.
The traders arrive each Friday with birds and other animals such as rabbits and Siamese cats imported from Iran and set up roadside stalls.
The latest attacks came even as Iraqi officials reported civilian deaths across Iraq in January had fallen to a 23-month low.
Combined figures obtained from the defence, interior and health ministries showed that a total of 541 Iraqis -- 463 civilians, 22 soldiers and 56 policemen -- were killed in January.
The figure is down from 568 last December, 606 in November, 887 in October and 840 in September.
US military commanders say attacks of all types are down 62 percent after peaking in June, to levels not seen since before February 2006, when a wave of sectarian violence was unleashed by the bombing of a Shiite shrine in the city of Samarra.
Iraqi and US officials attribute the drop in violence to a "surge" of an extra 30,000 US troops in Iraq, the formation by Sunni leaders of anti-Qaeda fronts, and Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's freezing of the activities of his Mahdi Army militia.
But US commanders warn Iraq is still a dangerous place and that Al-Qaeda -- though on the run -- is far from defeated.
While the number of Iraqis killed in January fell, US casualties rose to 39 American soldiers killed during the month, up from 23 in December and on a par with figures in October and November.
Research data released in London this week estimated that more than one million Iraqis have died in violence in the country since the US-led invasion of 2003.
[1] réaction :
-
Friday, February 1, 2008
Real A-Qaeda or CIA operations in Iraq?
By Kenneth T. Tellis
Are these bombing attacks launched by Al-Qaeda or are they False-Flag operations launched by the CIA? The problem here is no one seems to confirm whether these attacks on Iraqi people are what is sometimes claimed by U.S. news to be Al-Qaeda. The U.S. launched similar operations in Latin America via the Death Squads many years back, so who knows whether they are now in the same business.
Your reaction
Your reaction has been sent to FRANCE 24. Thank you for your feedback.
France 24 - Send by e-mail
The article has successfully been sent by email
-
Video
-
EXPLOSION IN IRAQ
31/01 M. Henbest
- EXPLOSION IN IRAQ
- 31/01 M. Henbest
- mms://video.france24.com.edgestreams.net/EN NW PKG IRAQ BLAST UPDATE_400.wmv
-
-
Photos
-
Animation
