Iraqi security forces inspect the site where a suicide car bomber smashed his vehicle into a checkpoint outside a building.—AP Photo
Holy crap. Iraq has been rocked to its foundation today as near simultaneous terrorist bombings hit three Iraqi cities - Baghdad, Karbala and Kirkuk. The latest report is that 30 have been killed and over 160 have been wounded.
From the story at DAWN:
Near-simultaneous attacks in several Iraqi cities killed at least 30 people on Tuesday on the anniversary of the US-led invasion of the country, just days before Baghdad hosts a landmark Arab summit.
The violence, which left 160 people wounded, was the deadliest to strike Iraq in nearly a month and rocked towns and cities spanning the northern oil-rich hub of Kirkuk and the southern city of Karbala between 7:00 am and 9:00 am.
In Baghdad, a car bomb exploded in the parking lot opposite the foreign ministry, security and medical officials said, despite dramatically heightened security measures in the capital in preparation for the March 27-29 Arab League summit.
Tuesday’s deadliest attack occurred in Karbala, where two roadside blasts at the entrance to the city killed 13 people and wounded 48, according to provincial health spokesman Jamal Mehdi.
Police spokesman Major Alaa Abbas of Karbala confirmed the toll.
A car bomb targeting a police office in the ethnically-mixed city of Kirkuk, meanwhile, killed nine policemen and wounded 42 people, the vast majority of them police, according to Dr Mohammed Abdullah at the city’s hospital.
“We have also received parts of bodies, but we do not know who they belong to,” Abdullah said.
Just another reminder that al Qaeda in Iraq is alive and well and at some point in time, the Iraqis are going to have to consider just how many new jihadis are flowing into the country once again. We saw the problem back during the Iraq War when jihadis were coming into Iraq via the Syrian border....well, I'm not sure anyone wants to be coming in from Syria at the moment but with each wave of this violence in the country, the Iraqi officials have to understand that their home is once again going to be a magnet for the jihadis of al Qaeda.
Thirty dead as Iraq rocked by wave of violence
BAGHDAD: Near-simultaneous attacks in several Iraqi cities killed at least 30 people on Tuesday on the anniversary of the US-led invasion of the country, just days before Baghdad hosts a landmark Arab summit.
The violence, which left 160 people wounded, was the deadliest to strike Iraq in nearly a month and rocked towns and cities spanning the northern oil-rich hub of Kirkuk and the southern city of Karbala between 7:00 am and 9:00 am.
In Baghdad, a car bomb exploded in the parking lot opposite the foreign ministry, security and medical officials said, despite dramatically heightened security measures in the capital in preparation for the March 27-29 Arab League summit.
Tuesday’s deadliest attack occurred in Karbala, where two roadside blasts at the entrance to the city killed 13 people and wounded 48, according to provincial health spokesman Jamal Mehdi.
Police spokesman Major Alaa Abbas of Karbala confirmed the toll.
A car bomb targeting a police office in the ethnically-mixed city of Kirkuk, meanwhile, killed nine policemen and wounded 42 people, the vast majority of them police, according to Dr Mohammed Abdullah at the city’s hospital.
“We have also received parts of bodies, but we do not know who they belong to,” Abdullah said.
A car bomb in the central town of Hilla, south of the capital, killed two people and wounded 31 others, provincial security committee chief Haidar al-Zambur said. The toll was confirmed by Ali Mohammed at Hilla hospital.
A car bomb set off by a suicide attacker in central Baghdad killed two people and wounded eight, security and medical officials said.
Another car bomb in Ramadi, capital of western Anbar province, killed two people and wounded 11, according to police and medical officials.
Separate gun and bomb attacks in Salaheddin province killed two people, including a city councillor, police said.
Bombings in the main northern city of Mosul, the refinery town of Baiji, and the northern towns of Daquq and al-Dhuluiyah left 20 people wounded.
Tuesday’s violence was the bloodiest in Iraq since a wave of attacks claimed by al-Qaeda killed at least 42 people on February 23.
The attacks come on the ninth anniversary of the beginning of the US-led invasion of Iraq which ousted Saddam Hussein, and just days before Baghdad hosts an Arab League summit, the first meeting of the 22-nation body to be held in the capital since Saddam’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Officials insist Iraq’s security forces are capable of maintaining security for the March 27-29 summit, but have admitted they may need to effectively shut down Baghdad to do so.
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