A truck bomb detonated beside a Sunni mosque and public market near Falluja on Saturday, killing 36 people and wounding at least 62 more worshipers a day after the imam there condemned Sunni militants, according to Iraqi security authorities. That's the Arab version of "civil, well-reasoned discourse."
The blast, which struck during a prayer service in Habbaniya, a town between Falluja and Ramadi in one of the most dangerous areas of Sunni-dominated Anbar Province, was unusual in that such bombings are a staple of Sunni insurgents. Attacks of that sort are usually directed at Iraqi police and soldiers, or at Shiite sites or mixed neighborhoods. Residents of Habbaniya said the mosqueÂ’s imam had condemned Qaeda militants during Friday Prayer the day before, and there was immediate speculation that the attack was linked to his sermon.
Gee. Golly. Shucks. Y'think?
A statement issued by the American military said the blast struck about 4:30 p.m. near a school and Iraqi police station, in addition to the mosque. “The target of the attack is not known,” the statement said. The military said American forces arrived quickly to help secure the area and transport victims to hospitals.
The bombing was the worst of several attacks in Iraq on Saturday, including one that left at least eight Iraqi national policemen dead at a checkpoint about two miles south of Baghdad International Airport. According to the American military, witnesses said as many as 10 insurgents rushed to the checkpoint and leaped out of a vehicle, firing assault rifles and lobbing grenades at the police. Two attackers were killed, but a military statement did not say what had happened to the other attackers. The statement also said American forces arrived and were fired on by the attackers, and then called in unspecified “aviation support.”