Another Day, Another Massacre In Baghdad: 34 Dead, 100 Wounded Update: Iraqi Military Verifies My Contention Of Yesterday That All Attacks Have Been Al Qaeda
Apr 6, 2010 1 Comment ›› Pat Dollard
BAGHDAD (AP) – Baghdad’s top military spokesman is blaming al-Qaida in Iraq for a series of massive explosions at apartment buildings across Baghdad, Today’s attacks killed at least 34 people.
Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, an spokesman for Baghdad’s operations command center, said after the blasts Tuesday “we are in a state of war with the remains of al-Qaida.” He spoke in an interview on state-owned TV.
He said terrorists are trying to disrupt security and the political process in Iraq, where parties are struggling for form a new government after the March 7 election produced no clear winner.
Tuesday’s attack was the fourth with multiple casualties in Iraq in five days.
BAGHDAD (AP) – Massive bombs hit apartment buildings across Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 34 people and wounding more than 100 in the latest sign that Iraq’s fragile security could dissolve in the chaos of the country’s unresolved election.
It was the fourth attack with multiple casualties across Iraq in five days, a spate of violence that has claimed more than 100 lives since Friday. The violence has spiked as political leaders scramble to secure enough support to form a government after the March 7 elections failed to produce a clear winner.
Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, an Iraqi military spokesman for Baghdad’s operations command center, said the attackers detonated seven blasts across the capital, using homemade bombs and, in one case, a car packed with explosives.
“There are casualties, and we are counting them right now with the Health Ministry,” al-Moussawi said.
Police and medical officials said the death toll was at least 34, and that women and children were among the dead. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to release information publicly.
The explosions started at about 9:30 a.m. at a residential building in the Shula area of northwest Baghdad That was followed by a car bomb about a mile away in an intersection, which damaged nearby buildings, according to police and hospital officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the press.
A few minutes later, at 9:45 a.m. a bomb left in a plastic bag exploded at a restaurant in the Allawi district downtown, near the government’s Culture Ministry.
College student Ali Hussein, 22, was riding the bus to school when one of the Shula bombs exploded. He described “people running in different directions with fear.”
“Cars began to collide with one another in street because of fear,” said Hussein, who fled for home after the blast. “We saw a cloud of fire and black smoke raising from a building at the explosion site, and while we were terrified by this explosion, another one took place.”
On Monday, a Shiite couple and four of their children were gunned down in their home outside Baghdad, while more than 40 were killed Sunday after suicide attackers detonated three car bombs near embassies in Baghdad. On Friday, gunmen went house-to-house in a Sunni area south of Baghdad, killing 24 villagers execution-style.
