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Car bomb kills at least 47 in Iraq
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-14 21:48
A car bomb exploded near a police station in Baghdad early Tuesday as dozens
of Iraqis were applying to join the force, killing at least 47 people and
wounding 114, officials said.
In Baqouba, gunmen opened fire on a van carrying policemen home from work,
killing 11 officers and a civilian.
A women strikes her
face with her hand after suspecting the death of her son at the scene of a
massive explosion outside a police station in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday Sept.
14, 2004. At least 47 people were killed and 88 wounded as the blast
ripped through scores of people gathered there with aspirations to join
the police force. [AP] |
The attacks were the
latest attempts by insurgents to disrupt U.S.-backed efforts to build a strong
Iraqi police force capable of taking over security in many towns and cities
ahead of nationwide elections slated for January.
In Baghdad, the blast left a gaping 10-foot crater outside the station at the
end of Haifa street, a main Baghdad thoroughfare that has been the scene
recently of fierce clashes. Dozens of cars parked nearby were destroyed and
shops and buildings were badly damaged.
Paramedics and residents picked up body parts scattered across the street and
put them into boxes. Anguished men lifted charred bodies and lay them gently on
stretchers.
Health Ministry spokesman Saad Al-Amili said at least 47 people were killed
and 114 wounded.
A worker cleans out
blood that filled the floors of al-Kirkh hospital as scores of injured
people were brought in, in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday Sept. 14, 2004.
[AP] | An Interior Ministry official said on
condition of anonymity that a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed
sedan next to a cafe by the police station where many would-be recruits had gone
to escape the summer heat.
Angry crowds near the site of the blast denounced U.S. forces and interim
Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's government for failing to protect police
recruiting centers.
"I blame Ayad Allawi's government for what happened because they did not take
the necessary security measures," said Ali Abul-Amir, who was among those trying
to join the force but had gone around the corner to buy a drink when the
explosion went off.
In the eastern city of Baqouba, gunmen in two cars opened fire Tuesday on a
van carrying policemen home from work, killing 11 officers and a civilian,
police and hospital officials said.
The incident occurred when the policemen were returning to their station
after they were told that a trip to a training camp has been postponed, said a
police officer on condition of anonymity. Eleven policemen were killed as well
as the civilian driver, said Qaisar Hamid of Baqouba General Hospital.
Attacks on Iraqi security forces and police officers — consider to be
collaborators by militants — have left hundreds of people dead since insurgents
began a 17-month campaign to expel U.S.-led forces and destabilize Allawi's
government.
U.S. soldiers
inspect the site of a massive explosion outside a police station at the
end of Haifa Street in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday Sept. 14, 2004.
[AP] |
Earlier this month, a suicide attacker
detonated a car bomb outside a police academy in the northern city of Kirkuk as
hundreds of trainees and civilians were leaving for the day, killing at least 20
people and wounding 36.
On July 28, a car bomb exploded outside a police recruiting center in
Baqouba, killing at least 68 people. A month earlier, a sport utility vehicle
packed with artillery shells slammed into a crowd waiting to volunteer for the
Iraqi military in Baghdad, killing 35.
In February, a suicide attacker targeted another army recruiting center in
Baghdad, killing 47. Days earlier 53 people were killed in a similar attack
south of the capital.
Meanwhile, saboteurs blew up a junction where multiple oil pipelines cross
the Tigris River in northern Iraq on Tuesday, sending plumes of smoke leaping
into the sky, officials said.
Firefighters struggled to put out the blaze after the attack near Beiji, 155
miles north of Baghdad. U.S. military officials surveying the blast estimated it
could take up to three days to put out the fire.
Crude oil cascaded down the hillside into the river. Fire burned atop the
water, fueled by the gushing oil. Beiji is the point where several oil pipelines
converge, said Lt. Col. Lee Morrison of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Also Tuesday, the military said two American soldiers were killed and three
others wounded when they came under attack Monday from an improvised explosive
device and small arms fire in Baghdad.
The military said in a statement that troops belonged to the Army's Task
Force Baghdad. The dead soldiers' names were withheld pending family
notification.
More than 1,000 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the start of
military operations in March 2003, according to an Associated Press tally based
on Defense Department figures.
Tuesday's car bombing came a day after U.S. warplanes launched airstrikes on
a suspected hideout where operatives from an al-Qaida-linked group were meeting
in Fallujah, killing 20 people.
Warplanes hit the city west of Baghdad after "intelligence sources reported
the presence of several (Abu Musab) al-Zarqawi operatives who have been
responsible for numerous terrorist attacks against Iraqi civilians, Iraqi
Security Forces and multinational forces," the U.S. military said in a
statement.
The military said reports indicated the strikes had achieved their aim, but
did not name the operatives. "This strike further erodes the capability of the
Zarqawi network and increases safety and security throughout Iraq," the military
statement said.
Also Monday, a video posted on a Web site in the name of the militants — led
by Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — purportedly showed the
beheading of a kidnapped Turkish truck driver. Al-Zarqawi is blamed for a string
of terror attacks in Iraq, including bombings and the slayings of other
hostages. Washington has a $10 million bounty on his head.
The video was digitally dated Aug. 17. The authenticity of the tape could not
be verified, but it appeared on a Web site known for carrying statements from
al-Zarqawi's group, Tawhid and Jihad.
On the tape, the victim identified himself as Durmus Kumdereli and said he
was seized while transporting goods to an American military base. Kumdereli was
reported kidnapped Aug. 14.
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