The Hindu : Front Page : 140 killed in car bomb blasts in Iraq

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Friday, Nov 24, 2006
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140 killed in car bomb blasts in Iraq

Atul Aneja

Blasts take place in Sadr city where Shia cleric commands support

— Photo: AFP

DEVASTATION: One of the sites in Baghdad's impoverished neighborhood of Sadr City, where a car bomb exploded on Thursday. As many as 140 people were killed in separate attacks.

DUBAI : A spate of car bombings killed at least 140 people in a Shia stronghold on the edge of Baghdad on Thursday, marking a sharp escalation in sectarian violence in the city.

The bombs went off in crowded markets of Sadr city, where Shia cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr commands substantial support.

It is feared that about 200 people have also been injured, in what is being described as one of the worst attacks seen in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in March 2003.

The first explosion took place at the crowded Jamila market, where shoppers were buying vegetables ahead of the holiday on Friday. Soon after, there were two explosions at an interval of 15 minutes each.

So powerful were the blasts that entire streets have been destroyed. The explosions triggered fierce fires and the whole area was littered with bodies and wreckage.

The attacks caused widespread panic. People rushed out of their homes raising slogans against the Sunnis. Emergency services were overwhelmed by the scale of the carnage.

Shortly afterwards, nearly a dozen mortars landed in the predominantly Sunni Adhamiya district, in the capital.

At another location, five persons were injured when 30 gunmen attacked the Health Ministry compound.

There has been a sharp upturn in violence in Iraq since the holy month of Ramzan.

According to statistics provided by the United Nations, sectarian violence was the chief cause of 3,700 deaths in October — the highest ever recorded in a single month in Iraq.

AP reports:

Apart from the Jamila market, car bombs hit the al-Hay market and the al-Shahidein Square in Sadr City.

The Shias fired 10 mortar rounds at the Sunni shrine of Abu Hanifa, the holiest in the city, killing one person and wounding seven others.

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