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Suiciders kill 125 civilians, 5 American Gls
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-06 06:54
A suicide blast near the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, 50 miles south of
Baghdad, killed 63 people and wounded 120, Karbala police spokesman Rahman
Meshawi said.
In the attack's aftermath, a woman and an infant girl in a bright red
jumpsuit lay in a pool of blood, their faces covered by a sheet. Television
images showed men ferrying the wounded in pushcarts.
The bomber appeared to have blown himself up about 30 yards from the shrine
in a busy pedestrian area surrounded by shops.
In Ramadi, an insurgent stronghold 70 miles west of Baghdad, a U.S. spokesman
said dozens were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a line of about 1,000
police recruits. Marine Capt. Jeffrey S. Pool initially put the death toll at
about 30, but Mohammed al-Ani, a doctor at Ramadi General Hospital, later said
56 people were killed and 60 injured.
A young victim of a suicide bomber's attack
lies in a bed at the Karbala hospital, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2006, in Karbala,
Iraq.[AP] | The attack took place at a police
screening center. Pool said recruits later got back in line to continue the
screening process.
In other violence Thursday, a suicide car bomb killed three Iraqi soldiers in
Baghdad, Lt. Col. Thamir al-Gharawi said, and gunmen killed three people in
separate incidents, police said, raising Thursday's death toll to at least 130.
The Karbala bomber detonated a vest stuffed with about 18 pounds of
explosives and several hand grenades, al-Taie said. Small steel balls that had
been packed into the suicide vest were found at the site, as was one unexploded
grenade, he said.
Like many pilgrims, Mohammed Saheb travels to Karbala every Thursday to be at
the holy site for Friday prayers.
"I never thought such a crime could happen near this holy site," said Saheb,
who had a head injury. "The terrorists spare no place from their ugly deeds.
This is a criminal act against faithful pilgrims. The terrorists are targeting
the Shiites."
Akram Saleh, a vendor, said he lost consciousness after the explosion.
"I was selling toys near the shrine when I flew into the air because of the
explosion," he said from a hospital bed, where he was being treated for burns
and bruises.
Karbala's governor, Aqeel al-Khazraji, blamed "takfiris and Saddamists" for
the Karbala attack. The takfiri ideology is followed by extremist Sunni Muslims
bent on killing anyone they consider an infidel, even fellow Muslims. Al-Qaida
in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a takfiri, and his group often has
targeted Shiites.
A senior official in the Iraqi Accordance Movement, the main minority Sunni
coalition, denounced the violence and called for solidarity among Iraqis to
defeat it, but he blamed the government for allowing it to happen.
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