More Than 40 Killed in String of Bombings in Central Iraq
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
nytimes.com
(Yeah, Iraq is another real winner of an investment for us..)
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 4 - Insurgents killed more than 40 people in a string of bombings throughout central Iraq today in the deadliest day since national parliamentary elections three weeks ago.
The most lethal blast killed at least 30 people when a suicide bomber struck an afternoon funeral procession for a relative of a local Shiite leader in Muqdadiyah, a restive city about 60 miles northeast of the capital.
Other bombs struck Shiite areas of Baghdad, where insurgents managed to penetrate a ring of security that had shut down bridges and rerouted traffic across much of central Baghdad following the kidnapping Tuesday afternoon of the sister of Interior Minister Bayan Jabr.
The Muqdadiyah attack wounded at least 36 others, according to an official at the interior ministry. The attack occurred when a suicide bomber walked into the funeral procession and detonated his bomb, the official said.News agency reports said the cemetery was strewn with body parts and tombstones were covered with blood. In Baghdad, Iraqi security forces set up checkpoints throughout the city to search for Mr. Jabr's sister. But in Khadhamiya, a large Shiite district, a stationary and unmanned car bomb ripped through an Iraqi police patrol at about 10:30 a.m., killing five and wounding 15 others, the interior ministry said. It was unclear how many victims were police officers.
Insurgents detonated at least three other bombs throughout the city, but it is not known how many casualties they caused.
Also today, gunmen killed a senior official of the Iraqi oil ministry as he drove through the western Baghdad neighborhood of Amariyah about 8 a.m., interior ministry officials said. The attack also killed the official's son and wounded their driver. Nearby in Ghazaliyah, another western Baghdad district where insurgents are active, gunmen fought a battle with Iraqi commandos around 10:30 a.m. One of the commandos was killed and 17 people were wounded.
In Kirkuk, an oil-rich city of mixed ethnicity northeast of Baghdad, two Iraqis were killed and two others were wounded when insurgents detonated a roadside bomb about 10 a.m. near the police academy in an unsuccessful attempt to kill American soldiers passing by in armored vehicles, said policeman Sarhad Qadir.
In Karbala, a large Shiite city south of Baghdad, Iraqi police said they successfully intercepted and safely detonated a car bomb there.
Finally, insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns ambushed 60 fuel tankers on a road north of Baghdad, destroying 20 of them, police and oil officials told The Associated Press. There was no immediate word on casualties. The militant group known as the Islamic Army in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack in an internet posting, Reuters reported.
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