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Explosion Kills 40 on Route to Karbala |
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Written by Abbas Al-Ani
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Saturday, 14 February 2009 04:05 |
 A woman suicide bomber dressed in a black abaya blew herself up in a crowd of
women and children Shiite pilgrims south of the Iraqi capital on Friday, killing
at least 35 worshippers, officials said. Interior Ministry spokesman Abdel-Karim
Khalaf said 35 people were killed and 68 wounded, almost all women and children,
in the attack in Iskandiriyah as pilgrims flocked on foot to the holy city of
Kerbala for a major religious ceremony.
It was the deadliest attack in Iraq for almost six weeks, since a suicide
bomber, initially said to be a woman but later identified as a man, killed 35
people near a Shiite shrine in the Kadhimiyah district of Baghdad on January 4.
Captain Mohammad al-Awadi of the police force for Babil Province, of which Hilla
is the capital, said the bomber had hidden her explosives under an abaya, a
traditional Muslim head-to-toe black garment for women.
She blew herself up among a crowd of women and children just after midday (0900
GMT), he said, in what was the third straight day of deadly attacks on Shiites
heading to Kerbala.
The pilgrims had been eating near a tent in the town of Iskandiriyah set up for
refreshments along the 110-kilometer trek south to Kerbala from Baghdad when the
bomber struck, the Interior Ministry said.
A doctor at nearby Hilla General Hospital, where dozens of ambulances ferried
the casualties, said most of the survivors had head and chest wounds. All 17
dead taken to that hospital were women and children.
The use of female suicide bombers in abayas has become a feared terror tactic in
Iraq.
Earlier this month, police announced they had arrested a woman who had confessed
to recruiting over 80 such suicide bombers and who helped orchestrate dozens of
attacks.
Iskandiriyah lies within what used to be known as "the triangle of death" where
Sunni fighters from Al-Qaeda, concealed in date-tree groves, would launch deadly
attacks on Shiites who ventured into the mainly farming area.
Last February, a suicide bomber in Iskandiriyah, which lies 40 kilometers south
of the capital, killed 43 Shiite pilgrims and wounded over 60 others.
Millions of pilgrims are traveling to Kerbala for Arbaeen, a ritual to mark 40
days after the Ashura anniversary of the killing of Imam Hussein by Sunni caliph
Yazid's armies in AD 680.
Kerbala provincial Governor Akeel al-Khazali told a news conference Friday that
5 million have already arrived in the city, including 110,000 from abroad.
Friday's attack came a day after eight pilgrims were killed and more than 50
wounded in a bombing near Kerbala's revered Imam Hussein shrine. An Interior
Ministry source said the bomb in a gas pipe was detonated by remote control.
A blast near the same shrine 11 months ago left 43 dead.
On Wednesday, deadly bombings again targeting Shiites near a Baghdad bus station
killed 16 people as violence across Iraq claimed at least 27 lives and shattered
a relative lull since largely peaceful provincial elections on January 31.
Iraq has experienced a steadily improving security situation in the past year,
but the latest attacks have underscored the country's fragile security.
Shiite pilgrims heading to Kerbala have been targeted and killed by Sunni rebel
groups in past years, adding to sectarian bloodshed that has seen hundreds of
thousands killed since the US-led invasion of 2003.
On Friday, an Iraqi Army general and his son were found shot dead at their
apartment in a mainly Sunni Muslim district of Baghdad on Friday, Interior and
Defense ministry officials said.
Source: AFP with Daily Star
Update: The number of dead has risen to 40, with a further 80 wounded. (source: AP)
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Last Updated on Saturday, 14 February 2009 04:19 |
