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WORLD: 86 killed by Baghdad bombs in deadliest day for months
Ben Bailey19.08.09
At least 86 people were killed and more than 300 wounded in a series of explosions across central Baghdad today.
Truck bombers struck first near the finance ministry in northern Baghdad and then, minutes later, close to the foreign ministry which is next to the heavily-fortified Green Zone.
The deadliest blast was near the foreign ministry — it killed at least 59 and wounded more than 250. The death toll in both attacks was expected to rise as rescuers searched through rubble and debris.
The blasts followed a string of attacks in Iraq this month that have claimed hundreds of lives and raised concerns about the ability of Iraqi security forces to keep the lid on violence before the full American withdrawal.
In the deadliest day in the capital since US troops withdrew from urban centres in June, at least six bombs and mortar rounds struck near ministries and other sensitive targets in quick succession.
Some of the mortars exploded inside the Green Zone. One is thought to have landed near the UN compound and smashed windows in the Iraqi parliament building.
Concrete slabs were blown off the front of the 10-storey foreign ministry and crushed parked cars, dozens of which were set alight. The blast also damaged nearby buildings, and a large area outside the ministry was covered by debris and broken glass.
A weeping employee, who gave her name as Asia, said: “The windows of the foreign ministry shattered, slaughtering the people inside. I could see ministry workers, journalists and security guards among the dead.”
Another car bomb targeted a joint Iraqi police and army patrol just outside the finance ministry, killing eight people, including one Iraqi soldier, a police official said. Twenty-two people were wounded.
Two blasts in commercial area of Baghdad killed a total of eight people and wounded 40.
Two other blasts struck different parts of the capital, including one in a residential district in northern Baghdad where one person was killed and 18 injured.
The Baghdad government said this month that most of the city's blast walls would be removed within 40 days, a sign of confidence in its security forces ahead of national elections which are due in January.
But today's violence undermined confidence in the government's ability to ensure security, on which Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has staked his reputation.
Reader views (8)
mm! Well this is what you get when you over throw a government and intervene in other peoples business. All this is the responsibility of the West. Sadam was keeping all the sects under control. Now all this mess is being left behind by the US and the UK. I am sure the Iraqis will never appreciate ur unwanted contribution and occupation so u can take middle eastern oil for free.
- Ahmed, London
I wish the media would call these incidents by there proper and factual title"Religious sectarian killings"As we have seen in Ireland,Bosnia,India,Pakistan,etc etc,religious sectarian violence is not limited to any particular faith/sect as history will testify.But what really galls me is religious believers world wide both past and present will all tell you constantly that religion brings peace,or there religion is one of peace,believe them at your peril.We have already seen it beginning in this country.Faith groups being courted by the Blair government,faith schools of all denominations will add to the divisions in society,we have all the ingredients in this country now for it to turn into a Bosnia or Iraq thanks to Governments that haven't learnt the lessons of history.So maybe we should not be so smug! Tragic and o so unnecessary.
- Kev, London-UK
The ONLY hope for Iraq is democracy. The US withdrew from the Cities at the end of June and has trained the Iraqi security services to try and stop these sorts of atrocities. The worry now is that the Iraqi state will become more oppresive as a result and it will end like Animal Farm. But unless Saddamm (or someone like him) had been allowed to stay in power, the Iraqi state would have imploded at some point: just a question of when. And a power vaccum without any outside force to moderate would have been far far bloodier (just comtrast the massacres in some African states over the last decade: much higher numbers have died. There weren't any protests over the 3 million who died in Congo in the 1990s: but then the US wasn't directly involved in that one, so no hate figure for guilt-ridden westerners to blame for everyting that goes wrong in the World.
- Alan, London
i hope Mr blair who is residing in the U.S.A.is happy with what he has created, now our beloved Mr brown is in control?kenendy said it would be another vietnam not far off so far.12 week war according to the goverment,it,s about time the people of U,K,woke up to the lies, and propaganda,life means nothing to our trustworthy M.P,s deciet deciet lie,s lie,s ugh ,
- Basil, bussiere poitevine 87320 france
EDITED by admin @ 15.36 on August 19 2009
Breach of community guidelines - racial/religious
- Kedge, wilts, england
The situation is worse now than when Saddam Hussein was in power. The coalition forces have acheived nothing.
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands
What was the war all about if this is still occurring in Iraq.It looks like that nothing has changed and that the
''enemy'' is just laughing at everyone and stating we are still here,so where does Democracy go from here!!!!
- European, Hong Kong China
So it continues unabated.
RIP.
- Reuben Camara, Principality of Morecambe, EUSSR
