Bombings kill nearly 60 in Sunni areas of Iraq
Updated: 2008-04-16 09:45
BAGHDAD -- Bombings blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq tore through market areas in Baghdad and outside the capital on Tuesday, killing nearly 60 people and shattering weeks of relative calm in Sunni-dominated areas.
The bloodshed -- in four cities as far north as Mosul and as far west as Ramadi -- struck directly at US claims that the Sunni insurgency is waning and being replaced by Shiite militia violence as a major threat.
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The deadliest blasts took place in Baqouba and Ramadi, two cities where the US military has claimed varying degrees of success in getting Sunnis to turn against al-Qaida.
In Baqouba, the Diyala provincial capital 35 miles northeast of the capital, a parked car exploded about 11:30 am in front of a restaurant across the street from the central courthouse and other government offices.
Many of the victims were on their way to the court, at the restaurant or in cars passing through the area. A man identifying himself as Abu Sarmad had just ordered lunch.
"I heard a big explosion and hot wind threw me from my chair to outside the restaurant," he said from his hospital bed.
The force of the blast jolted the concrete barriers erected along the road to protect the courthouse, witnesses said.
At least 40 people were killed and 70 wounded, according to hospital officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.
The US military in northern Iraq gave a slightly lower toll, saying 35 Iraqi citizens were killed, including a policeman, and 66 wounded. It said the blast destroyed three buses and damaged 10 shops.
AP Television News footage showed many of the bodies covered in crisp white sheets and black plastic bags in a hospital courtyard while the emergency room inside was overwhelmed with the wounded.
It was the deadliest bombing in Iraq since March 6, when a twin bombing killed 68 people in a crowded shopping district in the central Baghdad district of Karradah. The attack was also the deadliest in Baqouba since The Associated Press began tracking Iraqi casualties in late April 2005.
The US military said Tuesday that attacks in Baqouba have dropped noticeably since last June. But a series of assassinations and other high-profile attacks have occurred in and around the city this year, and American commanders have consistently warned that al-Qaida-led insurgents continue to pose a serious danger.
"Although attacks such as today's event are tragic, it is not indicative of the overall security situation in Baqouba," Maj. Mike Garcia, a spokesman for US forces in Diyala province, said in a statement.
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