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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (8352)	1/5/2006 8:57:14 AM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541476

Yikes- a couple of very bad days in Iraq: Attacks on Shiites, Police Kill 99 in Iraq By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer 12 minutes ago KARBALA, Iraq - Suicide bombers targeted Shiite pilgrims in the south and police recruits in central Iraq Thursday, killing almost 100 people in a stepped-up line of attacks. Thursday's bombings came a day after insurgents killed 53 people, including 32 killed by a suicide attacker at a Shiite funeral east of Baqouba. The blast near the Imam Hussein shrine in central Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, killed at least 49 people and injured 52, said Karbala police Col. Razaq al-Taie. The site was a scene of chaos with men ferrying the wounded in push carts and pools of blood on the ground. The bomber appeared to have set off the explosion only about 30 yards from the shrine in a busy shopping area. In Ramadi, police and hospital officials said at least 50 people were killed and 40 injured in a suicide attack on a line of police recruits. The attack took place at a police screening center in Ramadi, an insurgent stronghold 70 miles west of Baghdad. At least 50 people were killed, said Mohammed al-Ani, a doctor at Ramadi General Hospital and police Capt. Nassir al-Alousi. The U.S. military did not have a casualty figure, but said that a suicide bomb exploded at 10:55 a.m.near the Ramadi Glass and Ceramics Works "where screening for Iraqi police officers was taking place." Meanwhile, a roadside bomb south of Karbala hit an American convoy, and there were multiple U.S. casualties, said Iraqi police Capt. Rahim Salho. The Karbala bomber detonated a vest with about 17 pounds of explosives and several hand grenades, al-Taie said. Small steel balls that had been packed into the vest were found at the site, as was one unexploded grenade, he said. Many pilgrims travel to Karbala on Thursdays to be at the holy site for Friday prayers. One pilgrim, Mohammed Saheb, said he travels to Karbala every Thursday. "I never thought that such a crime could happen near this holy site," said Saheb, who sustained a head injury. "The terrorists spare no place from their ugly deeds. This is a criminal act against faithful pilgrims. The terrorists are targeting the Shiites." Speaking from a hospital bed where he was being treated for burns and bruises, Akram Saleh, a vendor, said he lost consciousness after the explosion. "I was selling toys near the shrine when I flew into the air because of the explosion," he said. Karbala's governor, Aqeel al-Khazraji, blamed "takfiris and Saddamists" for the Karbala attack. The takfiri ideology is followed by extremist Sunni Muslims bent on killing anyone considered to be an infidel, even fellow Muslims who disagree with their doctrine. Al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is a takfiri. His group has often targeted Shiites. Karbala has been relatively free of violence since December 2004, when seven people were killed and 31 wounded in an attack. But the deadliest civilian attack in Iraq since the war began came in March 2004 in Karbala, when coordinated blasts from suicide bombers, mortars and planted explosives exploded near Muslim shrines, killing at least 181 people. In December 2004, car bombs tore through a funeral procession in the other Shiite holy city, Najaf, and the main bus station in nearby Karbala, killing at least 60 people. In last year's deadliest attack blamed on al-Zarqawi, a suicide car bomber struck a crowd of police and Iraqi National Guard recruits in the southern city of Hillah, killing 125 people.