The Hindu : International : Huge blast at Iraq Parliament café

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 13, 2007
ePaper

International

International

Huge blast at Iraq Parliament café

Many die as bridge collapses in Baghdad blast

PHOTO: AFP

VITAL LINK BROKEN: Firefighters searching for survivors in the waters under Baghdad's Sarafiya bridge on Thursday. A suicide bomber blew up a truck on the bridge destroying it partially, killing 10 persons and sending cars plunging into the river Tigris.

BAGHDAD: A suspected suicide bomber blew himself up in the Iraqi Parliament cafeteria in a stunning assault in the heart of the heavily fortified, U.S.-protected Green Zone on Thursday, killing at least eight persons, said the American military.

Iraqi officials said the bomber struck the cafeteria while several lawmakers were eating lunch. State television said at least 30 persons were wounded.

The blast came hours after a suicide truck bomb exploded on a major bridge in Baghdad, collapsing the steel structure and sending cars tumbling into the Tigris River, police and witnesses said. At least 10 persons were killed. Maj. Gen. Caldwell said witness accounts indicated a suicide attack.

``We don't know at this point who it was. We do know in the past that suicide vests have been used predominantly by Al-Qaeda,'' he said. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad said no Americans were hurt.

The bombing came amid the two-month-old security crackdown in Baghdad, which has sought to restore stability in the capital so that the Government can take key political steps by June 30 or face a possible withdrawal of American support.

Woman MP injured

One of the dead lawmakers was Mohammed Awad, a member of the Sunni National Dialogue Front, said Saleh al-Mutlaq, the leader of the party, which holds 11 seats in Iraq's legislature. A woman Sunni lawmaker from the same list was wounded, he said.

Another legislator killed was Taha al-Liheibi, of the Sunni Accordance Front that holds 44 seats, according to Mohammed Abu Bakr, who heads the legislature's media department.

Earlier in the day, security officials used dogs to check people entering the building in a rare precaution — apparently concerned that an attack might take place.

But a security scanner that checks pedestrians at the entrance to the Green Zone near the Parliament building was not working on Thursday. People were searched only by hand and had to pass through metal detectors, he said.

In addition to killing 10 persons, Thursday's bombing of the al-Sarafiya bridge wounded 26, hospital officials said. As many as 20 persons were feared missing in cars that plummeted off the span.

Waves lapped against twisted girders as patrol boats searched for survivors and U.S. helicopters flew overhead. Scuba divers donned flippers and waded in from the riverbanks.

The bridge connected two northern Baghdad neighbourhoods — Waziriyah, a mostly Sunni enclave, and Utafiyah, a Shia area.

The river now serves as a de facto dividing line between the mostly Shia east and the largely Sunni west of the city, a reality of more than a year of sectarian fighting . — AP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International