7 Blasts Around Baghdad Kill at Least 24
Source: newyork times
BAGHDAD — Seven bomb blasts in and around Baghdad on Monday killed at least 24 people and wounded scores, including 3 American soldiers, while a series of firefights in the northern city of Mosul left 7 people dead, according to Iraqi security officials.
The spate of violence renewed concerns that extremists would step up their attacks as the June 30 deadline approached for American troops to withdraw from Iraqi cities.
There was no discernible pattern to the attacks on Monday, which were likely intended to undermine a general feeling of security that had grown here as violence had receded.
Some of the blasts were aimed at Iraqi security forces and others singled out civilians. In one attack, a bomb exploded on a minibus carrying high school students to their final exams, killing three of the students, according to witnesses and security officials.
A suicide bomber exploded a car outside a city council meeting in Abu Ghraib, a town west of Baghdad, after passing at least one Iraqi checkpoint. The blast killed at least 4 people and wounded 10, including the three American soldiers, who had just arrived to participate in the meeting, according to United States military officials. Iraq’s Interior Ministry put the death toll at seven.
The district commissioner of Abu Ghraib, Shakir Feza, said he expected “escalating violence” as American forces turn over security responsibilities to the Iraqis. Citing the bombings on Monday and one on Saturday near Kirkuk, which killed at least 68 people, he said, “There is an organized campaign by terrorist groups aimed at confusing the security situation.”
After a bomb exploded near a heavily secured bridge in central Baghdad, a local police commander, who identified himself only as Ali, said that the device used in that attack was sophisticated.
“The person who did this was either a military member or a person who has a military experience,” he said.
However, residents at the site of the bombing near the bridge, which leads to the fortified Green Zone, blamed others, including the American military and neighboring countries, which they said sought to foment instability.
“The Americans did it to get a pretext for delaying their withdrawal and to show us how we will be victims after they leave,” said a 36-year-old shopkeeper who gave his name only as Farouk.
Such conspiracy theories are not uncommon on the streets of Iraq. But for another shopkeeper in the area, who gave his name only as Haider, 45, the enemy was to the east.
“Iranian intelligence did it,” he said. “They want to destabilize our situation because the situation in their country is unstable.”
In Mosul, most of the attacks were aimed at Iraqi security forces. In two separate gun battles at checkpoints, two police officers and two army officers were killed. Later, an attacker tossed a grenade at an Iraqi Army patrol, killing one soldier and wounding five people, including two civilians. In other shootings in the city, two civilians were killed.
Duraid Adnan and Abeer Mohammed contributed reporting from Baghdad, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Falluja and Mosul.
BAGHDAD — Seven bomb blasts in and around Baghdad on Monday killed at least 24 people and wounded scores, including 3 American soldiers, while a series of firefights in the northern city of Mosul left 7 people dead, according to Iraqi security officials.
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Hadi Mizban/Associated Press
The driver, left, of a minibus on which a bomb exploded Monday. Three students were killed.
There was no discernible pattern to the attacks on Monday, which were likely intended to undermine a general feeling of security that had grown here as violence had receded.
Some of the blasts were aimed at Iraqi security forces and others singled out civilians. In one attack, a bomb exploded on a minibus carrying high school students to their final exams, killing three of the students, according to witnesses and security officials.
A suicide bomber exploded a car outside a city council meeting in Abu Ghraib, a town west of Baghdad, after passing at least one Iraqi checkpoint. The blast killed at least 4 people and wounded 10, including the three American soldiers, who had just arrived to participate in the meeting, according to United States military officials. Iraq’s Interior Ministry put the death toll at seven.
The district commissioner of Abu Ghraib, Shakir Feza, said he expected “escalating violence” as American forces turn over security responsibilities to the Iraqis. Citing the bombings on Monday and one on Saturday near Kirkuk, which killed at least 68 people, he said, “There is an organized campaign by terrorist groups aimed at confusing the security situation.”
After a bomb exploded near a heavily secured bridge in central Baghdad, a local police commander, who identified himself only as Ali, said that the device used in that attack was sophisticated.
“The person who did this was either a military member or a person who has a military experience,” he said.
However, residents at the site of the bombing near the bridge, which leads to the fortified Green Zone, blamed others, including the American military and neighboring countries, which they said sought to foment instability.
“The Americans did it to get a pretext for delaying their withdrawal and to show us how we will be victims after they leave,” said a 36-year-old shopkeeper who gave his name only as Farouk.
Such conspiracy theories are not uncommon on the streets of Iraq. But for another shopkeeper in the area, who gave his name only as Haider, 45, the enemy was to the east.
“Iranian intelligence did it,” he said. “They want to destabilize our situation because the situation in their country is unstable.”
In Mosul, most of the attacks were aimed at Iraqi security forces. In two separate gun battles at checkpoints, two police officers and two army officers were killed. Later, an attacker tossed a grenade at an Iraqi Army patrol, killing one soldier and wounding five people, including two civilians. In other shootings in the city, two civilians were killed.
Duraid Adnan and Abeer Mohammed contributed reporting from Baghdad, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Falluja and Mosul.
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