Posted on 04/28/2007 5:17:39 PM PDT by BlackVeil
BAGHDAD - A car bomb exploded Saturday in the Shiite holy city of Karbala as the streets were packed with people heading for evening prayers, killing at least 58 and wounding scores near some of the country's most sacred shrines. Separately, the U.S. military announced the deaths of nine American troops, including three killed Saturday in a single roadside bombing outside Baghdad.
With black smoke clogging the skies above Karbala, angry crowds hurled stones at police and later stormed the provincial governor's house, accusing authorities of failing to protect them from the unrelenting bombings usually blamed on Sunni insurgents. It was the second car bomb to strike the city's central area in two weeks.
Near the blast site, survivors frantically searched for missing relatives. Iraqi television showed one man carrying the charred body of a small girl above his head as he ran down the street while ambulances rushed to retrieve the wounded and firefighters sprayed water at fires in the wreckage, leaving pools of bloody water.
The Americans killed in Iraq included five who died in fighting Friday in Anbar province, three killed when a roadside bomb struck their patrol southeast of Baghdad and one killed in a separate roadside bombing south of the capital.
The deaths raised to 99 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died this month and at least 3,346 who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The blast took place about 7 p.m. in a crowded commercial area near the shrines of Imam Abbas and Imam Hussein, major Shiite saints.
Security officials said the car packed with explosives was parked near a cement barrier intended to keep traffic away from the shrines, which draw thousands of Shiite pilgrims from Iran and other countries.
That suggested the attack, which occurred two weeks after 47 people were killed and 224 were wounded in a car bombing in the same area on April 14, was aimed at killing as many Shiite worshippers as possible.
Salim Kazim, the head of the health department in Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, said 58 people were killed and 168 wounded. The figures were confirmed by Abdul-Al al-Yassiri, the head of Karbala's provincial council.
"I did not expect this explosion because I thought the place was well protected by the police," said Qassim Hassan, a clothing merchant who was injured by the blast. "I demand a trial for the people in charge of the security in Karbala."
Hassan, who spoke to a reporter from his hospital bed, said his brother and a cousin were still missing.
"I regret that I voted for those traitors who only care about their posts, not the people who voted for them," he said.
The U.S. military has warned that such bombings were intended to provoke retaliatory violence by Shiite militias, whose members have largely complied with political pressure to avoid confrontations with Americans during the U.S. troop buildup.
The radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr launched a strong attack earlier Saturday on President Bush, calling him the "greatest evil" for refusing to withdraw American troops from Iraq.
Al-Sadr's statement was read during a parliament session by his cousin, Liqaa al-Yassin, after Congress ordered U.S. troops to begin leaving Iraq by Oct. 1. Bush pledged to veto the measure and neither the House nor the Senate had enough votes to override him.
"Here are the Democrats calling you to withdraw or even set a timetable and you are not responding," al-Sadr's statement said. "It is not only them who are calling for this but also Republicans, to whom you belong."
"If you are ignoring your friends and partners, then it is no wonder that you ignore the international and Iraqi points of view," he added.
Al-Sadr led two armed uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004, and his Mahdi militia is believed responsible for much of Iraq's sectarian killing. The U.S. military says he has fled to Iran, although his followers insist he is hiding in Iraq. Abdul-Al al-Yassiri, the head of the Karbala provincial council, said local authorities had raised fears that militants fleeing the Baghdad security crackdown were infiltrating their area.
"We have contacted the interior minister and asked them to supply us with equipment that can detect explosives," he said.
Ali Mohammed, 31, who sells prayer beads in the area, said he heard the blast and felt himself hurled into the air.
"The next thing I knew I opened my eyes in the hospital with my legs and chest burned," he said. "This is a disaster. What is the guilt of the children and women killed today by this terrorist attack?"
Crowds stormed the provincial government offices and the governor's house, burning part of it along with three cars and scuffling with guards. Security forces detained several armed protesters, said Ghalib al-Daami, a provincial council member.
Saturday's bombing was the deadliest attack in Iraq since April 18, when 127 people were killed in a car bombing near the Sadriyah market in Baghdad — one of four bombings that killed a total of 183 people in the bloodiest day since a U.S.-Iraq security operation began in the capital more than 10 weeks ago.
In all, at least 119 people were killed or found dead, including the bodies of 38 people killed execution-style — apparent victims of the so-called sectarian death squads mostly run by Shiite militias.
In Baghdad, a mortar attack killed two people and wounded seven in the Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah, where the U.S. military recently announced it was building a three-mile long, 12-foot high concrete wall despite protests from residents and Sunni politicians that they were being isolated.
The U.S. military also said Saturday that a suicide truck bomber attacked the home of a city police chief the day before in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Anbar province, killing nine Iraqi security forces and six civilians. Police chief Hamid Ibrahim al-Numrawi and his family escaped injury after Iraqi forces opened fire on the truck before it reached the concrete barrier outside the home in Hit, 85 miles west of Baghdad.
I cant help but wonder how many of these people who throw rocks at police because they got bombed have turned in any suspected terrorists. How many have called in when they see IED’s being planted. How many have taken steps thgemselves to prevent bombings. Steps such as neighborhood watches to watch for suspected bombers, or how many have run off strangers who didnt belong in the community.,
Police and American soldiers cannot be all places at one time. Communities have to be progressive and start looking out for themselves.
Thank you Harry Reid!
Ditto, on your point Sarge.
Did you notice this?
Snip:
“I did not expect this explosion because I thought the place was well protected by the police,” said Qassim Hassan, a clothing merchant who was injured by the blast. “I demand a trial for the people in charge of the security in Karbala.”
“I regret that I voted for those traitors who only care about their posts, not the people who voted for them,” he said.
==Yep, sounds familiar... freedom is still on the march.
I have no idea what the gun laws over there are,but it seems everyone has an AK-47. maybe they should start using hem on the insurgents.
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The matter is a bit more complicated. Neighbourhood vigilantes do exist in Iraq, and some of them are quite successful... but exactly this often leads to “sectarian clashes/killings” we often hear about. Also such neighbourhood vigilant groups often get “sucked up” by the organized militias.
Nontheless if you take the “Anbar Salvation Council” a rather newly formed, Sunni Arab tribal alliance, which cooperates with us against Al-Qaeda, you will see an highly successful popular resistance against the terrorists.
Also note that Karbala is almost totally Shia turf. They won’t find any Sunni insurgent cell there. The killers of today’s bombing almost certainly was a Al-Qaeda bomber from the outside who posed as a Shia pilgrim.
I support the surge, but I still feel bitter about our soldiers having such big targets painted on their backs. I think we should move them into the desert with a perimeter. The only time an Iraqi would see an American soldier is when that Iraqi is about to die. To hell with “fear of collateral damage”. There are no innocents over there. also to hell with “winning the minds and hearts”. they all hate us. the problem is that they do not hate nor fear us enough to put aside their stupid rivalries so that we would be able to leave.
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C'mon, you know that ain't ever going to happen. Even here in the States, snitches in the "hood" getted wacked and in some communities no one talks to the police. You can only imagine what would happen to a snitch and his/her family in Iraq. And the cops you call are probably members of a Shiite death squad.
BTW, "neighbourhood watches" are called militias.
Gathering in crowds in Iraq is like putting cupcakes next to ant nests.
There should be a law to keep at least 10 yards apart.
Nonsense.
I feel your anger and frustration. But your talk makes me think the lefist media succeeded in selling their lies. There are innocents there. They don't hate us all. We have a lot of allies among the Iraqis... and your theory of sitting in the desert isn't going to work.
Why would Al-Qaeda attack the shiites? I thought that I heard the attack was sunni militias retaliating for attacks elsewhere.
I am losing patience with this war also. However, there are many innocent Iraqis that are supportive of the US, and want us there. Don’t buy into the idea that they are all bad. Our soldiers are dying to protect us and to give the innocent Iraqis a safe and democratic place to live. Don’t dishonor their sacrifice by saying they aren’t worth it.
Because Al-Q is radical Sunni and therefore consider Shias to be heretics and apostates. Furthermore they want to inflame the Shias to retaliate agianst Iraqi Sunnis, and thereby destabilize Iraq. Most Suicide Bombings and attacks agaisnt Shias are done by Al-Qaeda.
I guess you confused Shia militias with Sunni Al-Qaeda.
Al-Qaeda is Shia. That is why Al-Qaeda and Hussein didn’t work together. Hussein was a Sunni.
Thanks.
> Al-Qaeda is Shia
I believe you are mistaken. Bin Laden is Saudi, and a Wahabbist. That would be Sunni.
Totally wrong. Sorry you got it all wrong here. Al-Qaeda is Sunni extremist. Saddam Hussein was also Sunni, although not as religious as Al-Qaeda.
They both hated and kill Shias. Saddam and Al-Qaeda did cooperate... although it is disputed how intensive.
The Shias live largely in Iran and to a slight majority in Iraq.
The radical Shias in Iran and Iraq are our enemies. Saddams loyalists and the Al-Qaeda are also our enemies, although they are also enemies of the Shias.
Many good Shia Iraqis and also good Sunni Iraqis cooperate with us against all those terrorists, which include Sunni Al-Qaeda and Shia radical militias.
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