Middle East News
Baghdad suicide bombing kills at least 57
Dec 12, 2006, 12:03 GMT
Baghdad - A suicide bombing ripped through a crowded square in central Baghdad early Tuesday claiming the lives of more than 57 Iraqis and wounding at least 150.
'The death toll is expected to rise,' said a police source, explaining that the condition of some of the wounded is grave and that the blast was intense.
Police sources said a pick-up truck loaded with around 120 kilograms of explosives was detonated amid a gathering of day labourers in central Baghdad's Tayaran square, located in the al-Bab al-Sharqi district.
A suicide attacker had apparently driven the car into the gathering, police sources said. He was alone in the car.
An eyewitness told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the explosion was 'huge.'
'Severed body parts were scattered everywhere; cars ... and nearby shops caught fire,' said eyewitness Ali al-Zamly, who added that paramedics and ambulances arrived on the scene around 20 minutes after the blast.
News reports said gunfire was heard. The site, meanwhile, has been cordoned off.
At least eight similar attacks targeting day workers have occurred since the ousting of ex-dictator Saddam Hussein. In one case, the suicide driver had tricked workers into coming closer to his explosives-laden car by announcing that he had jobs for them.
Meanwhile, in a nearby district also in Baghdad, an explosive device was detonated, but no casualties were reported.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
blog comments powered by DisqusLatest Headlines in Middle East
- 1. Jerusalem prelate tells Arab Spring youth to have confidence
- 2. More than 100 killed in Syria ahead of ceasefire deadline
- 3. At least 43 killed in Syria, despite UN criticism
- 4. 19 killed in Syria as ceasefire deadline approaches
- 5. Pilgrims flock to Jerusalem for Easter, Passover
Older Talkback
page: 1
Iraq already went through a war. It's time for peace and the withdrawal of all Allied troops out of Iraq.
I can't believe moronic Americans make comments like 'Shel''s.
Er...like, the violence in Iraq has nothing to do with Western support for Saddam the dictator in the 80s, bringing the country to its knees in the 90s with sanctions that didn't hurt him but did wreck the economy, and then a totally incompetent invasion?
HELLO!!!
When you prop up brutal dictators to suit your interests (and how many other countries has the USA done that to?), slowly throttle a country with sanctions, and then invade it, it's not surprising the place falls into anarchy.
THIS IS YOUR FAULT AMERICA! YES IT IS!
George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, the other neocon cronies and Tony Blair should be on trial for war crimes.
That's not an exaggeration.
I have grown more appreciative of our peace and love, Christian influence in our history as I read about what's happening in other parts of the world.
How can you help people who believe that killing you is gods and will get them to heaven. People who if you don.t convert to there way of thinking makes you a target.
People who would blow up their own family to promote there cause.
How can civilized people help people like that.
As a Christian we have to put it in the hands GOD!
Pray and be ready to forgive.
Below is an excerpt on Iraq history from Wikpedia, it seems that America came late to the game. 9/11 was not our fault. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq)
In 1258, Baghdad was devastated by the Mongols and was later occupied by the Ottoman Turks.
During World War I, the Ottomans were driven from much of the area by the United Kingdom during the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire
At the end of World War I, the League of Nations granted the area to the United Kingdom as a mandate. It was formed out of three former Ottoman vilayets (regions): Mosul, Baghdad and Basra.
For three out of four centuries of Ottoman rule, the vilayets of Baghdad, Mosul, and Basra were administered from Baghdad. During the British mandate, the country was ruled by British colonial administrators who used the British armed forces to put down rebellions against the government. They selected the Hashemite king, Faisal, who had been forced out of Syria by the French, to be their client ruler.
Iraq was granted independence in 1932 by the urging of King Faisal, though the British retained military bases and transit rights for their forces in the country. King Ghazi of Iraq ruled as a figurehead after King Faisal died in 1933, while Iraq suffered from military coups (dictatorships) until he died in 1939. Iraq was invaded by the United Kingdom in 1941, for fears that the government of Rashid Ali might cut oil supplies to Western nations and because of his strong leanings to Nazi Germany. A military occupation followed after the restoration of the Hashemite monarchy, and the occupation ended on October 26, 1947.
The reinstalled Hashemite monarchy lasted until 1958, when it was overthrown through a coup d'etat by the Iraqi Army, known as the 14 July Revolution. The coup brought Brigadier General Abdul Karim Qassim to power. He withdrew from the Baghdad Pact and established friendly relations with the Soviet Union but his government lasted only until 1963, when it was overthrown by Colonel Abdul Salam Arif. Salam Arif died in 1966 and his brother, Abdul Rahman Arif, assumed the presidency. In 1968, Rahman Arif was overthrown by the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. This movement gradually came under the control of Saddam Hussein al-Majid al Tikriti who acceded to the presidency and control of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), then Iraq's supreme executive body, in July 1979, killing off many of his opponents in the process.
Saddam's rule lasted throughout the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), a war that ended in stalemate. In the late 1980s, Saddam Hussein's regime launched the al-Anfal campaign (Spoils of War), which led to the disappearance of tens of thousands of Kurds (182,000 is the number given by Kurdish authorities for the year 1988 alone) in northern Iraq when the military razed thousands of villages, launched poison gas attacks and rounded up men, women and children before shooting them or burying them alive in mass graves.
In 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait resulting in the Gulf War and United Nations economic sanctions imposed at the urging of the U.S. The economic sanctions were designed to compel Saddam to dispose of weapons of mass destruction.[2] Critics estimate that over 500,000 Iraqi children died as a result of the sanctions.[3] The U.S. and the UK declared no-fly zones over Kurdish northern and Shiite southern Iraq to oversee the Kurds and southern Shiites.
Iraq was invaded in March 2003 by a United States-organized coalition with the stated reasons that Iraq had not abandoned its nuclear and chemical weapons development program according to United Nations resolutions. The justifications given for invasion included purported Iraqi government links to Al Qaeda, claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the opportunity to remove an oppressive dictator from power, and the bringing of democracy to Iraq. A range of other possible motives include control over Iraqi oil fields, a desire to make amends for failing to overthrow Saddam during the Gulf war, revenge for Saddam's effort to assassinate former President George Bush, and creating a counterbalance to a nuclear-armed Iranian theocracy.
The United States established the Coalition Provisional Authority to govern Iraq. Government authority was transferred to an Iraqi Interim Government in 2004 and a permanent government was elected in October 2005. Over 140,000 Coalition troops remain in Iraq in order to assist the government.
Half the world is going 'I told you so' and the other half is trying to say that things were worse before and that it’s all justified. The fact is the West cannot solve the world's woes or change deep-seated, fanatical views by imposing a system of democracy upon a nation through war. This is now proven as the result is worse than the tyrannical dictatorship in place beforehand.
For most the only way forward is to admit this and to withdraw. Many more people will die whilst the fanatics fight over the scraps left behind. Problem is, leaving the country to civil war will potentially create a breeding ground for fanatics bent on revenge. Not that they need any more breeding grounds.
Either way, the West has put a stick into a hornet's nest (and let’s face it- they are hornets itching for a fight). The sad thing is the money spent on this war could have gone a considerable way towards educating and reaching out to fundamentalists or even better- towards helping to solve the real crisis facing our planet- Global Warming.
This seems to be the model: The moment these folks wish to free themselves from the Mullahs, they begin to kill themselves, or take it out on each other.
The fascists conveniently come along and, for your freedom, make it all go away.
As an american who backed taking out Saddam, why should this bother me? If they don't want this, arm themselves and rub these gangsters out. Don't try and tell me the locals don't know who they are.
Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure!
One would've expected USA to learn its lesson from Vietnam. What I mean is, the almightly USA sticking its nose everywhere it doesn't belong instead of a tissue. While were at it, why don't we go over to Darfur in Africa and declare a war over there also. Geez.....so much 'debt' and we went to war anyway. The sad part is, the one's who declared war, are never going to have a shot fired at them ( unless an assassin tries ), will never lose a relative to this fighting. I'm serious. How many of these 'leader's' relatives were ripped apart by a roadside bomb? Or was kidnapped by these monsters and tortured and beheaded. None. I say all the people making this war continue, should man up, get some boxing gloves, and handle the problem like men. Instead of sending real men and women to die, essentially for nothing.
They walk into your house illegally. Destroy everything while stealing the valuables. Then they start a fight between the siblings and then blame you for everything and walk away!
And People like the above clueless American racist posters buy that story! and Praise their Freedom and portray themselves as the Pinnacle of Human rights!
These people don't even know that the American population(300 million) has 200 million guns. Nobody is going to come and invade you! Stop the paranoia!
Did the American sheep herd figure out whats going on in Iraq yet?
Did any of you know where 58 billion dollars of your money went??? This is just the start. What happened to all the reconstruction money?
Did your so called Liberal media show you any of the construction works???
Bush and the Rich are stealing the American tax dollars and the majority is clueless zombies repeating 'Support our troops!'.
Man, those Iraqi's sure must be glad Bush decided to topple Saddam, look how much better their lives have become.
And they have such a bright future to look forward to when the United States abandons them like they did the South Vietnamese.
Simper fie
I have no problem spending the $$ to get rid of Saddam. This is just how much it costs.
Bush doesn't steal money from America, his tax cuts have made revenue skyrocket to record levels.
This will be one of these situations where we will be wishing we'd toughed it out.
For the record, we tried to help 50 million people free themselves. I wonder if they deserve it?
I think everyone
this is old hat .
no one really cares anymore who got killed 'how many got killed.
this is life in iraq . let them go at it .
page: 1
ShelDec 12th, 2006 - 12:55:50
If the Iraqis love life less than worshipping death, with an absolute refusal and cowardice to deal with the violence themselves, then the allies are not going to do it for them. The only mechanism that will solve their problems, once and for all, is a civil war. After enough deaths and injuries, e.g., perhaps 1 million and 5 million, respectively, they will finally come to their senses . . . Let the games begin!
Report this comment