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| 31 die in Baghdad rocket, mortar barrage |
| July 28 2006 at 08:53AM |
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Baghdad - Rockets and mortars rained down on an upscale, mostly Shi'a area of Baghdad, collapsing an apartment house, shattering shops and killing at least 31 people - part of the rising sectarian violence that United States President George Bush has vowed to stop. A statement posted late on Thursday on an Islamist Web site claimed responsibility in the name of the al-Sahaba Soldiers, a part of the Sunni extremist Mujahedeen Shura Council which also includes al-Qaeda in Iraq. The statement, whose authenticity could not be determined, said the attack was "in response to Shi'a crimes" and warned "we are prepared for many such operations" to punish Shi'a for supporting the "crusaders," or Americans, and the "treacherous" Iraqi government. At least two rockets slammed into Karradah, including one that collapsed an apartment house, said Lieutenant Colonel Abbas Mohammed Salman, police commander in Karradah. Salman gave the tally of dead and wounded. Two mortar shells exploded - one near an investment bank and another across the street near a row of shops. A car bomb went off minutes later near a gas station, shattering storefronts and spraying flaming gasoline on to homes and shops, the Interior Ministry reported. The blasts transformed a normally bustling, generally safe area of Baghdad into a scene from a war zone. Rescuers hauled a blood-soaked boy who appeared no more than 10 from the wrecked apartment building. A woman dressed in black sank to the street, weeping uncontrollably, when neighbours told her two of her sons were dead. Dazed survivors, some bleeding from their wounds, tried to help each other get medical aid. Charred hulks of trucks lay on their sides in the blackened street. One detonation occurred about 180m from the home of Vice-President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, a senior figure in the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned the attack, saying it was carried out by "killers of women and children" including religious extremists and Saddam Hussein loyalists. He said security forces would hunt down "those terrorists and killers who try to incite sectarian strife." Iraq's biggest Sunni political group, the Iraqi Islamic Party, said the attackers were bent on "sabotaging the national reconciliation plan, but they will fail" if Iraqis realise "the solution is in their hands." The government ordered private vehicles off the streets Friday between 11am and 3pm to prevent car bombs against Sunni and Shi'a worshippers on Islam's main day of worship. Thursday's attack occurred as al-Maliki was en route home from Washington, where President Bush agreed to send more American soldiers into Baghdad to curb the Sunni-Shi'a reprisal attacks that have surpassed the Sunni-led insurgency as the No. 1 threat to Iraq's stability. Sectarian attacks and intimidation began in Iraq shortly after the collapse of Saddam's regime in April 2003, fanned in large part by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who sought to trigger all out civil war before his death last month in a US airstrike. The sectarian violence surged after the February 22 bombing at a Shi'a shrine, which led to reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques and clerics nationwide. Sunni-Shi'a violence is most prevalent in Baghdad and religiously mixed communities around the capital. That has taken the spotlight away from the Sunni heartland north and west of Baghdad, where Sunni insurgents are strong and there a relatively few Shi'a. Bombings, shootings and execution-style killings have escalated despite the installation of al-Maliki's government of national unity May 20, dashing US hopes that a coalition of Sunnis, Shi'a and Kurds could win public trust and pave the way for the US military to begin pulling back this year. According to the United Nations, about 6 000 Iraqis were killed in May and June in political and sectarian violence. Instead of sending US soldiers home, General George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, is drawing up plans to put large numbers of American troops in Baghdad's streets to shore up the US-trained Iraqi security force. Britain's ambassador to Iraq said Thursday that the security problem was made all the worse because Iraqis have lost confidence in the police. Speaking on BBC Radio, William Patey said some members of the police are believed linked to Shi'a militias and Sunni insurgent groups. "Undoubtedly the Iraqi people have lost confidence in the police," he said. "You move from optimism and pessimism. It's a fine dividing line." Elsewhere, a US Marine was killed in action in western Iraq on Thursday, the US military said. The Marine was assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5, which operates in Anbar province, the command said. No further details were released. A Salvadoran soldier was also killed on Thursday when the ambulance he was driving was hit with an explosive device outside the southern city of Diwaniya, officials said. He was the second soldier from El Salvador to be killed in Iraq in the past eight days. An Iraqi soldier was killed and another wounded in a driveby shooting near Hawija, 240ikm north of Baghdad, police said. One civilian was killed and a woman and her eight-year-old son were wounded when police returned fire, officials said. The body of a police major general was found on Thursday in east Baghdad, one day after he was abducted, police said. His body was blindfolded, handcuffed and riddled with bullets. Also Thursday, gunmen abducted three people walking near a Sunni mosque in north Baghdad, and a former member of Saddam's Baath Party was shot and killed in east Baghdad, police said. - Sapa-AP
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