Thursday, May 24, 2007
27 killed by car bomber at funeral
Security
(Reuters) - At least 27 people were killed and dozens wounded on Thursday when a suicide bomber in a car packed with explosives drove into a crowd of mourners at a funeral in Falluja, west of Baghdad, police said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Falluja in Iraq's restive western Anbar province, but police said the funeral was being held for a local businessman opposed to Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.
The group is waging a campaign of bombings and shootings against Sunni Arab tribal leaders, politicians and others in western Anbar province who have formed an alliance against them. The bomber targeted mourners in a funeral procession for Allawi al-Isawi, a local contractor in Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, who was killed earlier on Thursday, police officer Jamal Anfous said.
As mourners walked down a main street holding aloft Isawi's coffin, the bomber drove into the crowd and blew himself up. A doctor at a local hospital, Ahmed al-Ani, said 27 were killed and more than 30 wounded.
The commander of U.S. troops in Anbar, a stronghold of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency, said last week that al Qaeda accounted for 75 percent of militants in and around Falluja.
The group is waging a campaign of bombings and shootings against Sunni Arab tribal leaders, politicians and others in western Anbar province who have formed an alliance against them. The bomber targeted mourners in a funeral procession for Allawi al-Isawi, a local contractor in Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, who was killed earlier on Thursday, police officer Jamal Anfous said.
As mourners walked down a main street holding aloft Isawi's coffin, the bomber drove into the crowd and blew himself up. A doctor at a local hospital, Ahmed al-Ani, said 27 were killed and more than 30 wounded.
The commander of U.S. troops in Anbar, a stronghold of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency, said last week that al Qaeda accounted for 75 percent of militants in and around Falluja.
Labels: Allawi al-Isawi, Fallujah, suicide car bomber
