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105+ killed by Hilla car bomb
At least 105 people have been killed in a massive car bomb south of Baghdad, local medical officials say. At least 130 others have been wounded in the blast in Hilla, 100km (60 miles) south of the capital. The car, reportedly driven by a suicide bomber, exploded near a queue of people applying for government jobs. A statement from local police said a suicide car bomb "hit a gathering of people who were applying for work in the security services", the Associated Press news agency reported. "Several people" were arrested in connection with the blast, the statement added, without elaborating further.Witnesses reported seeing dozens of bodies and body parts lying on the ground after the blast. Footage showed pools of blood at the scene, with dozens of people helping to put body parts, including arms, feet and limbs, into blankets. Shoes and tattered clothes were piled up in a corner. The director of the Hilla teaching hospital, Mohammed Dia, told the BBC the explosion was far worse than anything the town had ever experience before. A medical official told the Reuters news agency that local people had been called on to donate blood and that expert assistance had requested from further afield. "We've called on doctors from Karbala, Diwaniya and Najaf to come and help and they have started to arrive," he added. Hilla is a mainly Shia town, and Sunni militants have been openly striking at Shia targets in an attempt to stir up sectarian strife, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad. Posted by: Bulldog 2005-02-28 |
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