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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Ansar al-Sunnah attacks kill 76 |
| 2005-05-12 |
AT least 76 people were killed and more than 120 were wounded in a bloody wave of explosions in three Iraqi towns. US troops battled insurgents in the western hinterland to flush out rebel leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's supporters. Five bomb blasts left trails of carnage in the northern towns of Tikrit and Hawijah and in the capital Baghdad, the deadliest attacks in a mounting wave of violence since Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari formed his government on May 3. A car bomb struck a busy market square in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, killing 38, many of them labourers waiting to be hired for the day, and wounding 84. Mangled metal scraps, sandals and destroyed market stalls littered the blood-stained ground and splattered shopfronts near the site of the explosion. "This is not jihad [holy war]. There was no US patrol, no Iraqi police at the time of the blast. This car bomb tore civilians to shreds," Zeid Hamad, whose mobile telephone shop was a few metres away from the blast site, said yesterday. Fearing more suicide attacks, police later banned all solo-passenger vehicles from the city. In another attack, a suicide bomber wearing a belt of explosives blew himself up outside an army recruitment centre in Hawijah, northeast of Tikrit, killing 35 people and wounding 33. Ansar al-Sunna, which has links to the al-Qaeda network, claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks on its website. In Baghdad, at least three people were killed and 10 wounded as insurgents detonated three car bombs and an explosive charge, police said. In another incident, 45 people were hurt in a blast at a fertiliser plant near the southern town of Basra, although it was not clear if this was caused by sabotage or simply an accident. The past week has also been the most deadly in months for US troops, with 15 killed between Saturday and Monday. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 sounds like them: "Love us or we'll grind you into hamburger!" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-05-12 18:34 |