Death toll rises after Baghdad attacks
Death toll rises after Baghdad attacks
By Steve Negus, Iraq correspondent
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: November 23 2006 13:42 | Last updated: November 24 2006 09:26
The death toll in Baghdad rose to 202 on Friday after the single most deadly attack in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion. A series of co-ordinated suicide car bomb attacks on Thursday devastated the crowded east Baghdad Shia slum of Sadr City.
According to police sources quoted by wire agencies, at least 257 people were also injured in the bombings - assumed to be the work of Sunni militants - which had last night already sparked reprisals. The attacks will almost certainly disrupt efforts by Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi prime minister, to oust ministers affiliated to Shia militia from his cabinet.
Senior Sunni, Shia and Kurdish political leaders appeared together on television last night to appeal for calm after an emergency meeting, also attended by US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. A joint statement read by vice-president Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni, called for "a revision of the government's existing security plans for Baghdad to better protect innocent civilians".
Police said that at least three suicide car bombers blew up their vehicles at 15-minute intervals in three markets and squares in Sadr City while mortar rounds landed nearby. The attack coincided with an assault by up to 100 gunmen on the Ministry of Health, which, like Sadr City, is a base for the Shia Mahdi Army militia loyal to the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The attacks coincided with the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States and ahead of a planned meeting between Mr Maliki and George W. Bush, US president, in Jordan next week to discuss security and how to quell the sectarian violence that killed more than 3,700 civilians last month alone. Washington has been pressing Mr Maliki to rein inmilitias.
The assault on the health ministry appeared to be an unusually large-scale operation for a central area of the capital. Health ministry sources said thousands of employees were trapped inside during the battle, which only ended when US helicopter gunships and ground forces drove off the attackers.
Both attacks seemed aimed at the Shia Sadrist movement, which Sunni blame for the murder and torture of their co-religionists.
The health ministry assault reflects the growing tendency for ministries in Baghdad, most of which are controlled by sectarian-based parties, to be either the bases for, or the targets of, acts of violence. Sunni complain that they risk kidnap and murder if they stray too near to the sprawling health ministry, and US troops in August raided the compound looking for hostages.
Some initially saw the attack on the health ministry as retaliation for last week's raid on a research institute run by the ministry of higher education, which is controlled by the Sunni-dominated Iraqi Islamic party.
Within hours of yesterday's bloodshed, mortar rounds were reported to have been launched from Sadr City aimed at the Abu Hanifa mosque in the predominantly Sunni district of Adhamiya.
Iraqi state television reported that the interior ministry imposed an indefinite curfew on the city. The city's airport was closed to commercial flights.
The attacks came as Mr Maliki plans a reshuffle of his cabinet, which some government sources say is aimed at removing Sadrist ministers who abuse their position as well as partisan Sunni.
The death toll may still rise, and already exceeds the single worst blast in Iraq's postwar history, a 2005 car bomb in Hilla that killed 125.
By Steve Negus, Iraq correspondent
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: November 23 2006 13:42 | Last updated: November 24 2006 09:26
The death toll in Baghdad rose to 202 on Friday after the single most deadly attack in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion. A series of co-ordinated suicide car bomb attacks on Thursday devastated the crowded east Baghdad Shia slum of Sadr City.
According to police sources quoted by wire agencies, at least 257 people were also injured in the bombings - assumed to be the work of Sunni militants - which had last night already sparked reprisals. The attacks will almost certainly disrupt efforts by Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi prime minister, to oust ministers affiliated to Shia militia from his cabinet.
Senior Sunni, Shia and Kurdish political leaders appeared together on television last night to appeal for calm after an emergency meeting, also attended by US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. A joint statement read by vice-president Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni, called for "a revision of the government's existing security plans for Baghdad to better protect innocent civilians".
Police said that at least three suicide car bombers blew up their vehicles at 15-minute intervals in three markets and squares in Sadr City while mortar rounds landed nearby. The attack coincided with an assault by up to 100 gunmen on the Ministry of Health, which, like Sadr City, is a base for the Shia Mahdi Army militia loyal to the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The attacks coincided with the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States and ahead of a planned meeting between Mr Maliki and George W. Bush, US president, in Jordan next week to discuss security and how to quell the sectarian violence that killed more than 3,700 civilians last month alone. Washington has been pressing Mr Maliki to rein inmilitias.
The assault on the health ministry appeared to be an unusually large-scale operation for a central area of the capital. Health ministry sources said thousands of employees were trapped inside during the battle, which only ended when US helicopter gunships and ground forces drove off the attackers.
Both attacks seemed aimed at the Shia Sadrist movement, which Sunni blame for the murder and torture of their co-religionists.
The health ministry assault reflects the growing tendency for ministries in Baghdad, most of which are controlled by sectarian-based parties, to be either the bases for, or the targets of, acts of violence. Sunni complain that they risk kidnap and murder if they stray too near to the sprawling health ministry, and US troops in August raided the compound looking for hostages.
Some initially saw the attack on the health ministry as retaliation for last week's raid on a research institute run by the ministry of higher education, which is controlled by the Sunni-dominated Iraqi Islamic party.
Within hours of yesterday's bloodshed, mortar rounds were reported to have been launched from Sadr City aimed at the Abu Hanifa mosque in the predominantly Sunni district of Adhamiya.
Iraqi state television reported that the interior ministry imposed an indefinite curfew on the city. The city's airport was closed to commercial flights.
The attacks came as Mr Maliki plans a reshuffle of his cabinet, which some government sources say is aimed at removing Sadrist ministers who abuse their position as well as partisan Sunni.
The death toll may still rise, and already exceeds the single worst blast in Iraq's postwar history, a 2005 car bomb in Hilla that killed 125.
posted by Carlos T Mock @ 8:07 AM
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