Middle East News
As many as 60 killed in latest Baghdad suicide bombings (Roundup)
Apr 24, 2009, 13:44 GMT
A wounded boy lies in a hospital bed while receiving treatment after a bomb attack in Baghdad\'s Kadhimiya district, Iraq on 24 April 2009. In a second day of major bloodshed, two suicide bombers wearing explosive vests blew themselves up at the gates of a revered Shiite Muslim shrine in Baghdad on 24 April, killing 60 people and wounding 100. EPA/ALI ABBAS
Baghdad - Some 60 people were killed and as many as 125 injured when two suicide bombers struck a Shiite shrine in Baghdad on Friday, witnesses said.
Witnesses told the German Press Agency dpa that a man detonated explosives strapped to his body at the door to the shrine to a revered, eighth-century Shiite imam in the northwestern Baghdad neighbourhood of Kadhimiya. Soon after, a woman blew herself up at the women's entrance to the shrine.
'It was difficult to tell how many bodies there were,' a witness told dpa. 'Body parts were scattered everywhere.'
The Dubai-based al-Arabiya satellite news network initially reported that 30 people had been killed in the attack, which targeted Shiites gathering for Friday prayers. But by the afternoon, the number of deaths had risen to 60.
Baghdad's Voices of Iraq news agency, citing police reports, said 25 of the people killed and 80 of those injured were Iranian pilgrims who had come to pray at the shrine.
Friday's bombings followed the bloodiest day in Iraq this year. On Thursday, a suicide bomber killed 33 people and himself in a crowd queuing up for humanitarian aid in central Baghdad. At least 57 people were wounded in that attack, police told dpa.
Later on Thursday, a man walked into a restaurant full of Iranian pilgrims, near Khanaqin, in the violence-prone Iraqi province of Diyala, and blew himself up. Police said 52 people and the bomber were killed in that attack, and that 68 others had been wounded.
Friday's attack was the third on the shrine this month. Two weeks ago, two bomb attacks over the space of two days killed at least 15 and wounded 41. Those attacks were apparently timed to coincide with the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the Baath Party and US President Barack Obama's visit to Iraq.
In the north of Iraq on Friday, two civilians died when a bomb exploded near a mosque in the town of al-Sadija, in the restive province of Diyala to the northeast of Baghdad.
And in the disputed northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, police on Friday said a senior police officer had been killed.
Many Iraqi Kurds hope to make Kirkuk, with its rich petroleum fields, the capital of a future, independent Kurdish state. Arab Iraqis, many of whom moved to the city as part of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's attempt to 'Arabize' the city, view the city as an integral part of Iraq.
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Older Talkback
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Another tail of blood that goes back 14 centuries, right back to the prophets lies.
the volatile Middle East will never calm down - so what else's new?
Bush is at it again.
Will he and his evil cabal ever stop this reign of crime and destruction?
do f*ck off.
I don't care which company or entity develops better bomb detection, just do it. I would prefer a gadget that plain makes those bombs inoperable. Okay, all of you geniuses, get to work on it.
Left to their own devices, the Sunni would rise up against the Shia, who have not given them the means to earn a living, as was promised. The Sunni who were paid off by the U.S. now find themselves back where they started. Our attention (as it should be all along), and Petraeus, are now engaged with Pakistan. We had no business ever getting involved with Iraq - and that's the investigation that Congress SHOULD be holding.
The Kurds just want everyone to go away, as they have their own oil revenues.
Look at the cost in lives and injured; both amongst the forces of U.S. troops and their allies; AND the Iraqis themselves. Those who left (the educated classes) are unwilling to return; and their homes are long gone; taken over by the Shia.
The U.S. constructed walled enclaves to keep the sides apart. Now, as we drop those walls, the combat between the sects resumes - even Shia upon Shia, since it's really a fight over money, power, and oil revenues.
Speaking of which, Cheney's plan for Iraq to fund this whole thing is in the dumper, along with the price of oil; as well as Cheney's reputation amongst the majority of those who actually THINK about what's happened.
Drag Cheney in to face a stiff Congressional hearing to explain just what the hell happened; and how even in the face of his failures, his arrogance continues to make headlines. This egomanic just cannot shut up. The GOP uses him as they use Palin - as a fund-raiser.
Cheney spent 8 years creating problems; and now plans to spend the next 8 complaining that Obama has not repaired Cheney's potholes.
page: 1
aApr 24th, 2009 - 16:34:22
Obama has the technology:
Gaiacomm International to develop Defeat IED technology
Gaiacomm International will develop Counter (defeat) IED technology for the US Military to be used in Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflict zones. This technology is currently classified because of its accurate nature of detection. When deployed it will be able to detect and disable any device in the ground, on person (suicide bombers), inside vehicle or building's within a determined range, also classified. Soldiers are dying thus, the emphasis on accurate detection. Other technologies currently in the field simply do not operate as planned, thus the need for Gaiacomm's technology.
Gaiacomm also designs arcane electromagnetic weapons systems for use in large areas for complete destruction.
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