Spring Break
String of bombings threatens relative calm in Iraq
Trenton Daniel and Leith Hammoudi, McClatchy Newspapers
Issue date: 2/12/09 Section: News
BAGHDAD -- More than a dozen Iraqis were killed and 43 were wounded Wednesday in back-to-back car bombings at a bus station in a Shiite Muslim neighborhood in south Baghdad, police said.
The bombings were part of bloody day in which at least 22 people died in attacks throughout Iraq, breaking a relative calm that the country has enjoyed in recent months.
The attacks came a little more than a week after Iraq held provincial elections in 14 of its 18 provinces. Election officials are expected to release final results in the coming weeks.
Around 3 p.m. Wednesday, bombs in a parked car and a van detonated in the crowded bus depot in the Bayaa neighborhood, killing 16 civilians and wounding 43 others, police said. The area is a popular shopping destination.
The U.S.-led Multi-National Corps in Iraq put the death toll in a second depot attack at eight dead and 33 injured.
"We heard a big explosion and there was a big cloud of smoke," said Abo Ali al-Taee, 41, owner of a shop near the market in south Baghdad. "It was raining shrapnel."
Right after the blast, Taee said, he heard a woman screaming, "I lost my four brothers. I can't find them!"
Fearing more bombings, Taee fled. When he got home, his neighbor was sobbing. Her sons and a few relatives were among the injured.
"Thank God they were only injured," Taee said.
Iraqi police and coalition forces responded, cordoning off the bus station and nearby roads. Traffic was backed up into the evening. The wounded were taken to the Yarmouk hospital for treatment.
In other attacks Wednesday in Baghdad and around Iraq:
_A pilgrim was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad's wealthy, mixed-sect Karrada neighborhood around 7 a.m., police said. Four others were injured as they set out on foot for their pilgrimage to Karbala for Ashura, a period of mourning for many Shiite Muslims.
_A roadside bomb detonated about 1 p.m. in east Baghdad, killing one civilian and injuring 12 others. Six of the wounded were Karbala-bound pilgrims.
The bombings were part of bloody day in which at least 22 people died in attacks throughout Iraq, breaking a relative calm that the country has enjoyed in recent months.
The attacks came a little more than a week after Iraq held provincial elections in 14 of its 18 provinces. Election officials are expected to release final results in the coming weeks.
Around 3 p.m. Wednesday, bombs in a parked car and a van detonated in the crowded bus depot in the Bayaa neighborhood, killing 16 civilians and wounding 43 others, police said. The area is a popular shopping destination.
The U.S.-led Multi-National Corps in Iraq put the death toll in a second depot attack at eight dead and 33 injured.
"We heard a big explosion and there was a big cloud of smoke," said Abo Ali al-Taee, 41, owner of a shop near the market in south Baghdad. "It was raining shrapnel."
Right after the blast, Taee said, he heard a woman screaming, "I lost my four brothers. I can't find them!"
Fearing more bombings, Taee fled. When he got home, his neighbor was sobbing. Her sons and a few relatives were among the injured.
"Thank God they were only injured," Taee said.
Iraqi police and coalition forces responded, cordoning off the bus station and nearby roads. Traffic was backed up into the evening. The wounded were taken to the Yarmouk hospital for treatment.
In other attacks Wednesday in Baghdad and around Iraq:
_A pilgrim was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad's wealthy, mixed-sect Karrada neighborhood around 7 a.m., police said. Four others were injured as they set out on foot for their pilgrimage to Karbala for Ashura, a period of mourning for many Shiite Muslims.
_A roadside bomb detonated about 1 p.m. in east Baghdad, killing one civilian and injuring 12 others. Six of the wounded were Karbala-bound pilgrims.
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