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April 17, 2008
Bomb Kills Dozens at Iraqi Funeral
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:14 a.m. ET
BAGHDAD (AP) -- A suicide bomber struck the funeral of two anti-al-Qaida
Sunni tribesmen in a town north of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 50
people, police said.
The blast was the latest attack in Iraq's Sunni areas after a period of
relative calm that was broken this week, raising concerns that Sunni
insurgents are reorganizing.
Over the past months, violence has dropped with the increase in U.S. troops
and the growth of so-called Awakening Councils, groups of Sunni tribesmen
who joined American forces in fighting al-Qaida-linked militants.
Thursday's attack took place in the town of Albu Mohammed, 90 miles north of
Baghdad, during the funeral of two brothers who belonged to the local
Awakening Council. The brothers were slain a day earlier, police said.
The suicide bomber walked into a tent crowded with mourners in the village
and detonated explosives strapped to his body, police in the nearby city of
Kirkuk said.
One witness, Sheik Omar al-Azawi, was just pulling up at the tent in his car
when the blast went off.
''I first heard a thunderous explosion and when I turned my eyes to the tent
I saw fire and smoke coming out,'' al-Azawi, 51, told The Associated Press
in a telephone interview.
''Panicked people were jumping and running in all sides and then we started
to evacuate those who were killed and wounded in our private cars until
police and medical teams arrived,'' he said.
At least 50 people were killed and 20 in the blast, the police officials
said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to
talk to the media. The blast was the single deadliest attack since March 6,
when a bombing in central Baghdad killed 68.
Thursday's attack came on the heels of a string of suicide attacks on
Tuesday that killed 60 people in four major cities in central and northern
Iraq.
The U.S. military has touted the relative calm in Sunni areas as a major
success of the troop surge and the strategy of encouraging Awakening
Councils and other Sunnis -- some former insurgents -- to turn against
al-Qaida.
The new Sunni violence comes as fighting has increased between U.S.-Iraqi
forces and Shiite militiamen, particularly members of anti-U.S. cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.
On Wednesday, fresh clashes broke out in the Baghdad Mahdi Army stronghold
of Sadr City between U.S.-backed Iraqi troops and Shiite militiamen, leaving
two men dead and 18 people wounded, police said.
In the southern city of Basra, a U.S. drone killed four militants when it
fired rockets at militiamen who attacked an Iraqi army patrol.
An offensive launched on March 25 by Iraqi forces against Shiite militants
in Basra touched off an uprising by Shiite militias across southern Iraq and
in Sadr City.
U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner said Wednesday that despite
this week's violence, the overall situation in Iraq has markedly improved
over the past year.
''We have said all along that there will be variants in which we will see
al-Qaida and other groups seek to reassert themselves,'' Bergner said.
On Wednesday, the Iraqi government said it was replacing two senior military
commanders overseeing operations in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.
Officials insisted the two -- security army commander Lt. Gen. Mohan
al-Fireji and police chief Maj. Gen. Abdul-Jalil Khalaf -- had not been
fired but were being reassigned to positions in Baghdad after their
assignments ended.
Bomb Kills Dozens at Iraqi Funeral
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:14 a.m. ET
BAGHDAD (AP) -- A suicide bomber struck the funeral of two anti-al-Qaida
Sunni tribesmen in a town north of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 50
people, police said.
The blast was the latest attack in Iraq's Sunni areas after a period of
relative calm that was broken this week, raising concerns that Sunni
insurgents are reorganizing.
Over the past months, violence has dropped with the increase in U.S. troops
and the growth of so-called Awakening Councils, groups of Sunni tribesmen
who joined American forces in fighting al-Qaida-linked militants.
Thursday's attack took place in the town of Albu Mohammed, 90 miles north of
Baghdad, during the funeral of two brothers who belonged to the local
Awakening Council. The brothers were slain a day earlier, police said.
The suicide bomber walked into a tent crowded with mourners in the village
and detonated explosives strapped to his body, police in the nearby city of
Kirkuk said.
One witness, Sheik Omar al-Azawi, was just pulling up at the tent in his car
when the blast went off.
''I first heard a thunderous explosion and when I turned my eyes to the tent
I saw fire and smoke coming out,'' al-Azawi, 51, told The Associated Press
in a telephone interview.
''Panicked people were jumping and running in all sides and then we started
to evacuate those who were killed and wounded in our private cars until
police and medical teams arrived,'' he said.
At least 50 people were killed and 20 in the blast, the police officials
said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to
talk to the media. The blast was the single deadliest attack since March 6,
when a bombing in central Baghdad killed 68.
Thursday's attack came on the heels of a string of suicide attacks on
Tuesday that killed 60 people in four major cities in central and northern
Iraq.
The U.S. military has touted the relative calm in Sunni areas as a major
success of the troop surge and the strategy of encouraging Awakening
Councils and other Sunnis -- some former insurgents -- to turn against
al-Qaida.
The new Sunni violence comes as fighting has increased between U.S.-Iraqi
forces and Shiite militiamen, particularly members of anti-U.S. cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.
On Wednesday, fresh clashes broke out in the Baghdad Mahdi Army stronghold
of Sadr City between U.S.-backed Iraqi troops and Shiite militiamen, leaving
two men dead and 18 people wounded, police said.
In the southern city of Basra, a U.S. drone killed four militants when it
fired rockets at militiamen who attacked an Iraqi army patrol.
An offensive launched on March 25 by Iraqi forces against Shiite militants
in Basra touched off an uprising by Shiite militias across southern Iraq and
in Sadr City.
U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner said Wednesday that despite
this week's violence, the overall situation in Iraq has markedly improved
over the past year.
''We have said all along that there will be variants in which we will see
al-Qaida and other groups seek to reassert themselves,'' Bergner said.
On Wednesday, the Iraqi government said it was replacing two senior military
commanders overseeing operations in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.
Officials insisted the two -- security army commander Lt. Gen. Mohan
al-Fireji and police chief Maj. Gen. Abdul-Jalil Khalaf -- had not been
fired but were being reassigned to positions in Baghdad after their
assignments ended.
