Explosions kill 10 people in holy city in Iraq
BAGHDAD - September 25, 2011
Four explosions struck the city of Karbala over a five-minute
period, government officials said, sending thick black smoke over
the city. Two of the bombs targeted an Interior Ministry office
that issues ID cards. Another struck near a house, shredding its
walls and ceiling. And one explosion went off half a mile from an
important gold-domed shrine.
"Once again, the terrorist enemies of both Iraq and humanity
have committed a new crime against the innocent people of
Karbala," said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite.
He called the bombings a "heinous crime," promised those
behind them and the earlier attack on the bus would be punished and
warned people not to be drawn back into sectarian revenge killings.
"We should stay united and cease statements or acts that would
help the criminals in their efforts to ignite sedition."
Ferocious bombing attacks by Sunni insurgent groups like
al-Qaida in Iraq targeted the Shiite community whose leaders came
to power after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The bloodshed pushed the
nation to the edge of civil war.
Violence in Iraq has fallen dramatically since the bloodletting
of 2006 and 2007, but militant attacks still appear aimed at
re-igniting the nation's volatile ethnic and religious divide.
The Sept. 12 bus attack targeted Shiite pilgrims from Karbala
who were headed to a shrine in neighboring Syria.
The gunmen stopped the bus at a fake checkpoint in the western
desert of Anbar province, heavily populated by Sunnis and once one
of the heartlands of the insurgency.
The assailants pulled 22 men from the bus and shot them
execution-style, leaving the women and children weeping beside a
remote highway.
Prime Minister al-Maliki has been trying to tamp down tensions
between officials in Karbala and Anbar since the highjacking. Four
suspects are being held in the case, and al-Maliki's military
advisers say at least some foreigners were among the plotters.
Sunday's bombings in Karbala were meant to raise tensions
further, officials said.
"The aim of these explosions is to ignite the sectarian
sedition after the killing of 22 Karbala residents in the Anbar
desert two weeks ago," said provincial councilman Hussein Shadhan
al-Aboudi. "They also aim to destabilize the security situation in
Karbala."
Besides the 10 people killed, dozens were injured. Estimates
ranged from 40 to as high as 90. The casualty figures were provided
by three government officials: al-Aboudi, fellow councilman
Mohammed al-Moussawi and parliamentarian Jawad Kadim al-Hassnawi.
Raed al-Assali, a government employee in the Karbala Investment
Council, said he was sitting in his office doing paperwork when he
heard the booms.
"I rushed to rooftop of our building and I saw thick smoke
rising from the blast area," al-Assali said. "Some people in
panic were running in the nearby alleys in order to escape fire and
danger."
Al-Assali noted growing tensions and fear by Karbala residents
that they are being targeted by Sunni insurgents.
"There's a feeling here that some groups are trying to ignite
sectarian sedition by targeting Karbala after the crisis with
Anbar," he said, referring to the slaying of the pilgrims.
Karbala, located 55 miles (90 kilometers) south of Baghdad, is
one of the holiest cities in Shiite Islam because two early Muslim
leaders, imams Abbas and Hussein, are buried there.
The bus attack alarmed Iraqi and U.S. security officials who are
uneasily watching to see if stability will plummet while the
American military continues withdrawing from the country. Under a
2008 security agreement, all U.S. troops are required to be out of
Iraq by the end of the year.
But concerns about leaving behind partially trained Iraqi forces
have spurred Washington and Baghdad to reconsider the deadline,
although no agreement has yet been reached to keep U.S. troops in
Iraq beyond 2011.
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Associated Press writer Lara Jakes contributed to this report.
