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| Iraq |
| Iraq bomb kills 9, baby survives in slain motherŽs lap |
| 2009-04-08 |
| [Beirut Daily Star: Region] A car bomb killed nine people and wounded 20 in the Shiite Kadhimiya district of northwest Baghdad on Tuesday, police said, a day after seven car bombs killed 37 people across the Iraqi capital. The attack occurred the same day that US President Barack Obama arrived in Iraq for his first visit since taking office. Targeting Shiite areas such as Kadhimiya to stoke sectarian tension has been a favorite tactic of Al-Qaeda, although no one claimed responsibility for the bombing. Eyewitnesses said a baby miraculously survived the bombing cradled in his mother's lap as she was burned alive. The baby boy's father was seriously wounded in the attack, police and witnesses said. "The father was badly burned. We don't know whether he will survive or not. We took the baby out of the car, but we don't know what to do with him," said an eyewitness who gave his name as Asaad Raad, holding the child in his arms. "This child lost a mother and a father. What else can I say?" Violence has fallen dramatically in Iraq in the past year, but Al-Qaeda and other insurgents have shown themselves still capable of launching frequent bomb attacks. US and Iraqi officials blamed Monday's series of bombings on Al-Qaeda. But a senior Iraqi intelligence source, who requested anonymity, said there was evidence the bombs could be the work of the Badr Organization, the armed wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI). ISCI is allied to Premier Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party in Parliament, but the two have become somewhat estranged. Dawa trounced ISCI in local elections in January after a campaign in which Maliki sought credit for increasing security and called for national unity. ISCI by contrast pushed overtly religious themes and called for an autonomous Shiite south. Maliki's strong showing gave him some momentum ahead of elections at the end of the year. The intelligence source said the authorities had received intelligence 10 days earlier that Badr fighters might set off bombs across Baghdad to send out a message that Maliki's government is not delivering on security as it claims. But National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, asked if the bombings could be the work of the Badr Organization instead of Al-Qaeda, replied: "All the [finger] ... prints of Al-Qaeda were there." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Lets not be eurocentric and judgemental of other people cultures. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-04-08 05:57 |