Sunday, May 06, 2007
Car bomb kills 25 in Baghdad
Security
(AP) - A car bomb ripped through a commercial district in western Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 25 people and wounding dozens in one of the deadliest attacks in the capital in recent days. The blast occurred about noon in the mixed Sunni-Shiite Baiyaa neighborhood, the scene of frequent sectarian violence including a bombing and mortar attack last week that killed seven people. The bombing Sunday came amid an 11-week-old crackdown by U.S.-led forces intended to bring stability to Baghdad.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which was part of a wave of violence across Iraq on Sunday that killed at least 37 people. Meanwhile, U.S. and Iraqi troops continued their operations in the city, entering the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City on an early morning raid and searching houses in the area, known as a hotbed of Shiite militant groups. Aircraft flew over the neighborhood during the raid and carried out airstrikes on four houses, reducing one to a pile of bricks and rubble, police and witnesses said. The occupants of the destroyed house had apparently fled before the raid. Several cars were also charred and badly damaged.
In other violence Sunday, insurgents exploded a car bomb outside a police station in the town of Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, killing two police and a bystander, police said. A few minutes later, militants in the town attacked a police checkpoint near the al-Askari shrine, killing another police officer, police said.
A gunbattle between unidentified gunmen and Iraqi forces in a market in the town of Baqouba 35 miles northeast of Baghdad killed two civilians dead, police said. In the town of Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, a roadside bomb outside a teacher's house killed three of his children, all of them under the age of 10, police said. The parents were not injured in the attack. Police also found the bullet-riddled bodies of three men, who were blindfolded, handcuffed and dumped in the Tigris River in the town of Suwayrah, 25 miles south of Baghdad.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which was part of a wave of violence across Iraq on Sunday that killed at least 37 people. Meanwhile, U.S. and Iraqi troops continued their operations in the city, entering the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City on an early morning raid and searching houses in the area, known as a hotbed of Shiite militant groups. Aircraft flew over the neighborhood during the raid and carried out airstrikes on four houses, reducing one to a pile of bricks and rubble, police and witnesses said. The occupants of the destroyed house had apparently fled before the raid. Several cars were also charred and badly damaged.
In other violence Sunday, insurgents exploded a car bomb outside a police station in the town of Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, killing two police and a bystander, police said. A few minutes later, militants in the town attacked a police checkpoint near the al-Askari shrine, killing another police officer, police said.
A gunbattle between unidentified gunmen and Iraqi forces in a market in the town of Baqouba 35 miles northeast of Baghdad killed two civilians dead, police said. In the town of Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, a roadside bomb outside a teacher's house killed three of his children, all of them under the age of 10, police said. The parents were not injured in the attack. Police also found the bullet-riddled bodies of three men, who were blindfolded, handcuffed and dumped in the Tigris River in the town of Suwayrah, 25 miles south of Baghdad.
Labels: Baghdad, Baiyaa, Baqouba, car bomb, Kut, Sadr City, Samarra
