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Twin car bombings kill 18 in Baghdad
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-15 07:44
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two car bombs ripped through a crowded street in front of the
Interior Ministry in central Baghdad on Thursday, killing 18 people and wounding
three dozen others. Al-Qaida in Iraq said it carried out the attack, the
bloodiest in more than a month.
In a statement posted on the Internet, the group, headed by Jordanian-born
militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said the attack targeted a patrol outside the
office of Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib, who is in charge of the nation's
police. The claim could not be independently verified.
A car bomb explodes,
detonated by U.S. troops after it was discovered at the scene of the
double car bombing in Baghdad, Iraq Thursday, April 14, 2005. The initial
attack killed 18 and wounded three dozen, but no one was injured in this
controlled explosion. The sign at left reads 'Keep Your City Clean' in
Arabic. [AP]
| Al-Naqib was in his office at the time of the
explosions, but was not injured. He came out afterward to examine the scorched
road and blackened rubble left by the blast. The ministry building, built by
Saddam Hussein's government to survive major attacks, was not damaged.
Meanwhile, a new video broadcast on al-Jazeera television showed a man who
identified himself as a Pakistani diplomat kidnapped last weekend in Baghdad.
The Arab satellite station said the man, who was wearing a white skull cap,
urged the Pakistani government and international community to intervene and
secure his release.
The station said the kidnappers, identified as being from the previously
unknown group Amuriya Brigade, made no demands for his release.
Malik Mohammed Javed, deputy charge d'affaires at the Pakistani mission in
Baghdad, was last seen Saturday leaving his home for prayers at a mosque. The
Pakistani Foreign Ministry earlier said the Omar bin Khattab group claimed
responsibility and demanded money for his release. The video broadcast Thursday
couldn't be independently verified and the discrepancy between the groups' names
couldn't be explained.
The death toll from Thursday's car bombs was the highest from an explosion
since March 10, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Shiite mosque during
a funeral, killing 47 people.
The force of Thursday's attack threw people to the ground and sent thick
black smoke billowing over the city.
Ali Ahmed, 28, said he was selling ice cream when he heard an explosion,
followed by gunfire and another explosion.
"My stall was partially destroyed because of this terrorist act," he said.
"Some people have lost their lives. As for me, I have now lost my source of
income."
Abdullah Hussein Zamel was cleaning tables at a restaurant near the heavily
fortified Green Zone when the blast shattered the windows.
"I went outside and saw dead and injured people," he said. "After that, I
heard police open heavy fire on a second car."
Panicked students from a nearby secondary school and university gathered in
the street, some weeping.
"We are terrified," said Hoda Raheem Hadi, a 22-year-old computer science
student. "Why is this happening?"
After clearing the area, U.S. forces set off a third car bomb that apparently
failed to explode earlier. Nobody was injured in that blast.
Interior Ministry official Capt. Ahmed Ismael said the first two blasts
killed 18 people and wounded 36.
It was the latest attack claimed by al-Qaida in Iraq. On Tuesday, the group
claimed responsibility for bloody clashes with U.S. soldiers in the Syrian
border town of Qaim, and on Wednesday it claimed an attack on a U.S. convoy that
killed five Iraqis and wounded four U.S. contract workers on Baghdad's airport
road. None of the claims could be verified.
In northern Iraq, seven gunmen riding in two vehicles fired on the police
station just south of Kirkuk shortly after dawn, killing five police officers
and one civilian, police Brig. Sarhat Qadir said.
Militant group Ansar al-Sunnah claimed responsibility in an Internet posting,
and said it had teamed up with Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq for an attack
Wednesday in Kirkuk — an unusual mention of cooperation among Iraq's disparate
and sometimes competing militant groups.
The Web posting, which couldn't be independently corroborated, said an
explosive device that killed 12 police Wednesday was composed of three bombs
buried under a decoy device — a lure to draw policemen to the blast site.
A suicide bomber also blew himself up near an Iraqi police checkpoint in
Mahawil, 50 miles south of Baghdad, killing four policemen and wounding six
others, the Polish-led military force said.
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