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Bombers Kill 12 at Baghdad Police Station
By REUTERS
Published: April 22, 2007
Filed at 5:12 a.m. ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two suicide car bombers rammed their vehicles into a
Baghdad police station on Sunday, killing 12 people in one of the worst
attacks against Iraq's security forces since a security crackdown was
launched in the city.
The bombings in the mostly Shi'ite al-Bayaa neighborhood in southwestern
Baghdad wounded 95, police said.
Most of the dead were police while a large number of civilians were among
the wounded, police said. The blasts damaged the police station and also
largely destroyed a garage next door, collapsing rubble onto a dozen cars.
``Look at the situation Iraqis are living in. You see blasts whenever you
try to go out to earn a living,'' said one witness.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have poured thousands of extra troops into Baghdad
over the past two months in an attempt to halt Iraq's slide into all-out
civil war between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs.
While the boost in troop levels has reduced killings by sectarian death
squads, car bomb attacks still plague the city. A wave of car bombs killed
nearly 200 people last Wednesday.
The U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, said in remarks
published on Sunday that the troop build-up had yielded modest progress but
a rise in suicide bombings made the ultimate success of the crackdown
uncertain.
Petraeus and other senior U.S. officers in Iraq told The Washington Post the
increase in U.S. and Iraqi troops had improved security in Baghdad and
restive western Anbar province but that attacks had risen sharply in other
regions.
``We have certainly pulled neighborhoods back from the brink,'' Petraeus was
quoted as saying.
But the commanders said the increase in suicide bomb attacks was troubling
because of the danger of reigniting sectarian revenge killings and
undermining the government of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
``I don't think you're ever going to get rid of all the car bombs,''
Petraeus said. ``Iraq is going to have to learn -- as did, say, Northern
Ireland, to live with some degree of sensational attacks.''
CONCRETE WALLS
The U.S. military said on Sunday it was putting up concrete walls to protect
five neighbourhoods in Baghdad. Some residents said the move would isolate
them and sharpen sectarian tensions.
``We are not sealing off neighbourhoods, we are controlling access to them.
It's a tactic, it's not a change in strategy to divide Baghdad along
sectarian lines,'' said military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Scott
Bleichwehl.
The announcement that more ``gated communities'' are being built came after
the U.S. military said last week it was putting a 5-km (3-mile) cement wall
around a Sunni enclave in the city.
Concrete barriers up to 12 feet tall are being built around Adhamiya, a
mainly Sunni Arab area that is surrounded on three sides by Shi'ite
communities. Traffic control points manned by Iraqi soldiers would be the
only way in and out of Adhamiya once the wall was finished.
Um Othman, 45, a teacher, said residents in Adhamiya regarded the concrete
barriers as an ``isolating wall.''
``It will be like Palestine. The people of Adhamiya and neighboring
districts have mutual historical relations, like religious festivals and
marriage,'' she said.
Baghdad is already largely divided along sectarian lines after the bombing
of a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra in February 2006 sparked a wave of violence
that reshaped the city.
Sunnis now mainly live on the west side of the Tigris River and Shi'ites on
the east.
By REUTERS
Published: April 22, 2007
Filed at 5:12 a.m. ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two suicide car bombers rammed their vehicles into a
Baghdad police station on Sunday, killing 12 people in one of the worst
attacks against Iraq's security forces since a security crackdown was
launched in the city.
The bombings in the mostly Shi'ite al-Bayaa neighborhood in southwestern
Baghdad wounded 95, police said.
Most of the dead were police while a large number of civilians were among
the wounded, police said. The blasts damaged the police station and also
largely destroyed a garage next door, collapsing rubble onto a dozen cars.
``Look at the situation Iraqis are living in. You see blasts whenever you
try to go out to earn a living,'' said one witness.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have poured thousands of extra troops into Baghdad
over the past two months in an attempt to halt Iraq's slide into all-out
civil war between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs.
While the boost in troop levels has reduced killings by sectarian death
squads, car bomb attacks still plague the city. A wave of car bombs killed
nearly 200 people last Wednesday.
The U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, said in remarks
published on Sunday that the troop build-up had yielded modest progress but
a rise in suicide bombings made the ultimate success of the crackdown
uncertain.
Petraeus and other senior U.S. officers in Iraq told The Washington Post the
increase in U.S. and Iraqi troops had improved security in Baghdad and
restive western Anbar province but that attacks had risen sharply in other
regions.
``We have certainly pulled neighborhoods back from the brink,'' Petraeus was
quoted as saying.
But the commanders said the increase in suicide bomb attacks was troubling
because of the danger of reigniting sectarian revenge killings and
undermining the government of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
``I don't think you're ever going to get rid of all the car bombs,''
Petraeus said. ``Iraq is going to have to learn -- as did, say, Northern
Ireland, to live with some degree of sensational attacks.''
CONCRETE WALLS
The U.S. military said on Sunday it was putting up concrete walls to protect
five neighbourhoods in Baghdad. Some residents said the move would isolate
them and sharpen sectarian tensions.
``We are not sealing off neighbourhoods, we are controlling access to them.
It's a tactic, it's not a change in strategy to divide Baghdad along
sectarian lines,'' said military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Scott
Bleichwehl.
The announcement that more ``gated communities'' are being built came after
the U.S. military said last week it was putting a 5-km (3-mile) cement wall
around a Sunni enclave in the city.
Concrete barriers up to 12 feet tall are being built around Adhamiya, a
mainly Sunni Arab area that is surrounded on three sides by Shi'ite
communities. Traffic control points manned by Iraqi soldiers would be the
only way in and out of Adhamiya once the wall was finished.
Um Othman, 45, a teacher, said residents in Adhamiya regarded the concrete
barriers as an ``isolating wall.''
``It will be like Palestine. The people of Adhamiya and neighboring
districts have mutual historical relations, like religious festivals and
marriage,'' she said.
Baghdad is already largely divided along sectarian lines after the bombing
of a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra in February 2006 sparked a wave of violence
that reshaped the city.
Sunnis now mainly live on the west side of the Tigris River and Shi'ites on
the east.
