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March 30, 2007
More Than 100 Are Killed in Iraq as a Wave of Sectarian Attacks Shows No
Sign of Letting Up
By KIRK SEMPLE
BAGHDAD, March 29 - More than 100 people were killed Thursday in a series of
attacks around Iraq that included two suicide bombings that struck crowded
markets during the week's busiest shopping hours, the authorities said.
The attacks extended an extraordinary surge of sectarian violence in Iraq
this week, including a series of bombings and reprisals in the northern city
of Tal Afar in which more than 140 people were killed in two days.
On Thursday, officials said 18 police officers in Tal Afar suspected of
participating in the massacre of Sunni Arab residents in reprisal for the
bombing of a Shiite neighborhood had been freed after being detained for
only a few hours.
At a time when the Shiite-dominated central government has been under
intense pressure to rein in Shiite militias and death squads, the releases
are sure to bring even more outrage from Sunni Arabs.
The deadliest attacks on Thursday were aimed at predominantly Shiite
neighborhoods in central Iraq and appeared to be part of a fierce campaign
by Sunni Arab insurgents to undermine the latest government security plan
for Baghdad.
At least 60 people, mostly women and children, were killed when a man
wrapped in an explosive belt walked into a crowded street market in the
Shaab neighborhood of eastern Baghdad and detonated the belt, an Interior
Ministry official said. At least 25 people were wounded.
The attack appeared to be carefully timed, hitting just after sundown on the
eve of the Muslim day of prayer, when markets are packed.
Two hours earlier, a coordinated attack involving three suicide car bombers,
including one driving an ambulance, killed at least 28 people, including
women and children, and wounded 53 in the predominantly Shiite town of
Khalis, about six miles north of Baquba in the violently contested province
of Diyala, according to the Iraqi authorities.
The first of those suicide car bombs was detonated at a crowded market,
according to a senior Iraqi security official in Baquba. As people rushed to
help victims of the first car bombing, a second such bomb went off, killing
and wounding rescuers and security forces, the official said.
The third suicide bomber, who was driving a stolen ambulance, apparently had
engine problems about 500 yards from the central hospital, his apparent
target, the security official said. When several people approached the man
to help, the official said, he detonated his explosives.
The attacks came on the heels of a two-day spate of sectarian bloodshed in
Tal Afar, during which a double suicide bombing in a Shiite neighborhood was
answered by a Shiite massacre of Sunni residents. More than 140 people have
been killed there, with at least 210 people wounded, officials said.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki immediately ordered an investigation
into the killings. Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told the government-run
television channel Iraqiya on Wednesday that the government would "take
legal action" against the 18 police officers who had been arrested and
accused of involvement in the massacre, in which at least 70 people were
killed.
But on Thursday, officials in Nineveh Province, where the attacks occurred,
said the police officers had been held only briefly by the Iraqi Army and
released.
Nineveh's governor, Durad Kashmul, said at a news conference that the the
army had freed the policemen "to deter strife" after a street demonstration
demanding their release, Reuters reported.
Husham al-Hamdani, the head of the provincial security committee, confirmed
to The Associated Press that the officers had been freed but gave no reason.
Repeated calls to the spokesmen for the Iraqi military command went
unanswered, and an envoy from Prime Minister Maliki who visited Tal Afar
said he could not confirm or deny the report that the policemen had been
released.
In Baghdad, a bomb placed on a popular shopping street in the Baya district
killed 10 people and wounded 20, according to officials at the Interior
Ministry and Yarmuk Hospital. A car bomb exploded near a hospital in
Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, killing four people and wounding 20, the
ministry official said. And a suicide car bomber detonated himself at an
Iraqi Army checkpoint in the Jamiya district of western Baghdad, killing
three soldiers and wounding 16.
At least eight more people were killed by gunmen in Baghdad and Mosul,
officials said, including a guard employed by the Shiite politician Ahmad
Chalabi. At least 25 bodies were discovered around Baghdad.
In the capital, Ryan C. Crocker was sworn in as the new American ambassador
to Iraq. At the ceremony, in the international Green Zone, Mr. Crocker said:
"Turning the tide from oppression to freedom does not come overnight. It
does not come without high costs."
He added: "President Bush's policy is the right one. There has been
progress; there is also much more to be done."
More Than 100 Are Killed in Iraq as a Wave of Sectarian Attacks Shows No
Sign of Letting Up
By KIRK SEMPLE
BAGHDAD, March 29 - More than 100 people were killed Thursday in a series of
attacks around Iraq that included two suicide bombings that struck crowded
markets during the week's busiest shopping hours, the authorities said.
The attacks extended an extraordinary surge of sectarian violence in Iraq
this week, including a series of bombings and reprisals in the northern city
of Tal Afar in which more than 140 people were killed in two days.
On Thursday, officials said 18 police officers in Tal Afar suspected of
participating in the massacre of Sunni Arab residents in reprisal for the
bombing of a Shiite neighborhood had been freed after being detained for
only a few hours.
At a time when the Shiite-dominated central government has been under
intense pressure to rein in Shiite militias and death squads, the releases
are sure to bring even more outrage from Sunni Arabs.
The deadliest attacks on Thursday were aimed at predominantly Shiite
neighborhoods in central Iraq and appeared to be part of a fierce campaign
by Sunni Arab insurgents to undermine the latest government security plan
for Baghdad.
At least 60 people, mostly women and children, were killed when a man
wrapped in an explosive belt walked into a crowded street market in the
Shaab neighborhood of eastern Baghdad and detonated the belt, an Interior
Ministry official said. At least 25 people were wounded.
The attack appeared to be carefully timed, hitting just after sundown on the
eve of the Muslim day of prayer, when markets are packed.
Two hours earlier, a coordinated attack involving three suicide car bombers,
including one driving an ambulance, killed at least 28 people, including
women and children, and wounded 53 in the predominantly Shiite town of
Khalis, about six miles north of Baquba in the violently contested province
of Diyala, according to the Iraqi authorities.
The first of those suicide car bombs was detonated at a crowded market,
according to a senior Iraqi security official in Baquba. As people rushed to
help victims of the first car bombing, a second such bomb went off, killing
and wounding rescuers and security forces, the official said.
The third suicide bomber, who was driving a stolen ambulance, apparently had
engine problems about 500 yards from the central hospital, his apparent
target, the security official said. When several people approached the man
to help, the official said, he detonated his explosives.
The attacks came on the heels of a two-day spate of sectarian bloodshed in
Tal Afar, during which a double suicide bombing in a Shiite neighborhood was
answered by a Shiite massacre of Sunni residents. More than 140 people have
been killed there, with at least 210 people wounded, officials said.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki immediately ordered an investigation
into the killings. Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani told the government-run
television channel Iraqiya on Wednesday that the government would "take
legal action" against the 18 police officers who had been arrested and
accused of involvement in the massacre, in which at least 70 people were
killed.
But on Thursday, officials in Nineveh Province, where the attacks occurred,
said the police officers had been held only briefly by the Iraqi Army and
released.
Nineveh's governor, Durad Kashmul, said at a news conference that the the
army had freed the policemen "to deter strife" after a street demonstration
demanding their release, Reuters reported.
Husham al-Hamdani, the head of the provincial security committee, confirmed
to The Associated Press that the officers had been freed but gave no reason.
Repeated calls to the spokesmen for the Iraqi military command went
unanswered, and an envoy from Prime Minister Maliki who visited Tal Afar
said he could not confirm or deny the report that the policemen had been
released.
In Baghdad, a bomb placed on a popular shopping street in the Baya district
killed 10 people and wounded 20, according to officials at the Interior
Ministry and Yarmuk Hospital. A car bomb exploded near a hospital in
Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, killing four people and wounding 20, the
ministry official said. And a suicide car bomber detonated himself at an
Iraqi Army checkpoint in the Jamiya district of western Baghdad, killing
three soldiers and wounding 16.
At least eight more people were killed by gunmen in Baghdad and Mosul,
officials said, including a guard employed by the Shiite politician Ahmad
Chalabi. At least 25 bodies were discovered around Baghdad.
In the capital, Ryan C. Crocker was sworn in as the new American ambassador
to Iraq. At the ceremony, in the international Green Zone, Mr. Crocker said:
"Turning the tide from oppression to freedom does not come overnight. It
does not come without high costs."
He added: "President Bush's policy is the right one. There has been
progress; there is also much more to be done."
