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| Iraq |
| Car bombs kill 15 in Baghdad shopping area |
| 2007-01-28 |
| Two car bombs killed 15 people in a mainly Shia Muslim area of Baghdad on Saturday in the latest in a series of attacks by militants on crowded shopping areas in the Iraqi capital. The week-long string of bombings has further disrupted life in Baghdad, spreading fear among the city’s 7 million residents awaiting a planned US-backed offensive to tighten the government’s fragile grip over its largely lawless capital. Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki’s office said US President George W. Bush had expressed his full backing for the Baghdad security plan during phone talks with Maliki on Saturday. Bush has said he will send 21,500 extra troops to Iraq, most to Baghdad, but has run into fierce opposition from the new Democrat-dominated Congress as well as public disapproval. In Washington, tens of thousands of people demonstrated to press Bush’s administration to get out of Iraq, chanting “Bring our troops home.” Troops who have served in Iraq and their families joined some US legislators, peace groups and actors, including Vietnam war protester Jane Fonda, to urge Congress and Bush to stop funding the war. “When I served in the war, I thought I was serving honourably. Instead, I was sent to war ... for causes that have proved fraudulent,” said Garett Reppenhagen, a former sniper, who was cheered by the crowd. Saturday’s attacks occurred in New Baghdad in the east of the capital, targeting weekend shoppers thronging shops and market stalls selling fruit and exotic birds. A Reuters journalist saw eight bodies being loaded into ambulances and body parts lying in the street. Dead birds lay in cages in an area that appeared to have been reserved for a bird market. Several cars were ablaze. |
| Posted by:Fred |