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| Iraq |
| Suicide attacks kill 76 as Iraq reports arrest |
| 2009-04-23 |
| A restaurant and aid distribution targeted. Two suicide bombers wearing vests full of explosives blew themselves up in separate attacks on Thursday, killing 76 people, including many Iranian pilgrims, in what appeared to be Iraq's bloodiest day in over a year. Shortly after the two attacks, the authorities in Baghdad said they had arrested the purported leader of an al Qaeda-affiliated insurgent group, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. His arrest, which has been reported before, could not be confirmed. The blasts occurred as apprehension grows in Iraq ahead of a pullout by U.S. troops from city centers in June, and after warnings from officials that insurgent groups may try to take advantage of that to launch attacks. A year-end election also threatens to stir a resurgence in violence just as the sectarian bloodshed and insurgency triggered by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion appeared to be receding. One of the attacks occurred near Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, in the volatile province of Diyala. The suicide bomber targeted a group of Iranian pilgrims in a crowded roadside restaurant at lunchtime. All but two of the 48 dead were Iranian pilgrims, who have flocked to Iraq in the millions since the fall of Sunni Arab dictator Saddam Hussein to visit Shi'ite Muslim religious sites. Seventy-seven people were wounded, police said. It was the single deadliest attack since 50 people were killed by a suicide bomber in a restaurant near the northern city of Kirkuk on December 11 last year. "I just left the hospital of Baquba. The scenes there are catastrophic," said Abdulnasir al-Muntasirbillah, who marked his first day in office as Diyala governor on Thursday. "Words can't express it. It is a dirty, cowardly terrorist act." The other blast took place in central Baghdad as a group of Iraqi national police were distributing relief supplies to families driven from their homes at the height of the violence. Twenty-eight people died, and 50 were wounded, police said. At least five children and two Red Crescent workers were among the dead. Some witnesses said the bomber was a woman. |
| Posted by:ed |