Monday, April 16, 2007
Karbala Governor - Saturday's bombing was expected
Security
(VOI) – Karbala Governor Uqail al-Khazaali said Saturday's bombing in the predominantly Shiite city, that killed 42 and wounded 224 others, was expected. "We had information about possible terrorist operations," Khazaali told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI), declining to reveal the nature of the information. "We made contacts with the central government and the interior ministry but the response was not up to the level required to confront the forces of terror," he said, adding, "the bombing only wants to drag Karbala into the infighting."
Protesters took to the streets chanting slogans against the local government on Saturday and some of them smashed police vehicles and a car belonging to a member of the Karbala local council. The angry demonstrators headed to the local administration building to take control of it but security forces fired into the air to disperse them. "Any gunman assaulting policemen or the local administration building has to be strongly deterred," said Khazaali, appealing to "Shiite seminary, political and popular figures to exert efforts to control the situation."
Earlier on Sunday a Karbala health official said casualties from Saturday's bombing in Karbala jumped to 42, while the number of wounded rose to 224. "The number (of casualties) is likely to rise because most of the wounded are (seriously) burnt," Saleem Kazhim told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). Eleven children and 86 women, including five Iranians, are among the wounded he said. Kazhim noted that eight children from different provinces who were on a school trip were among the casualties, adding that the details of the casualties are not clear as most of them were either charred or mutilated.
An official source had said on Saturday that a car rigged with explosives ripped through the heart of Karbala, 108 km southwest of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, which was followed by a curfew on both vehicles and pedestrians until further notice.
Labels: car bomb, Karbala, Uqail al-Khazaali
