Winks Blog

53 People Killed In Iraq, Mr. Bush Sends Condolences to Families of Dead Miners

Good morning,

Thirty two people attending the funeral for the nephew of a Shiite politician were killed by a martyr bomber. More than 100 mourners were standing in a cemetery in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, for the burial of a nephew of Ahmed al-Bakka when the bomber struck, the Diyala provincial police said. The cemetery was strewn with body parts and the tombstones were stained with blood. At least 32 people were killed and 42 wounded, said Dr. Firas al-Nida of the Muqdadiyah hospital. Ahmed al-Bakka was himself an assissination target last Tuesday when his nephew was killed. I do not know if he was present at the funeral. Al-Bakka is the head of the local Dawa party, led by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and a main partner in the country's largest Shiite political coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance.

In other violence today, (Wednesday), a car bomb exploded near an outdoor market in Baghdad's southern Dora district, killing seven people and wounding 15, police said.
The bomb, which damaged several shops and nearby vehicles, targeted a police patrol near the market at the time, said police Capt. Firras Giti.

In addition, Insurgents attacked a convoy of 60 tanker trucks with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, destroying three of the tankers and damaging 15 others, said police Lt. Abdul Zahra Qassim. Three Iraqi army vehicles, which had been guarding the convoy, were also destroyed in the attack about 25 miles north of Baghdad, police said.
Tanker truck drivers had stopped transporting gasoline from Iraq's largest refinery in Beiji on Dec. 18 because of security concerns. The drivers began carrying fuel again this week after being promised increased security.

As a side note, today 12 miners were discovered dead in West Virginia more than 40 hours after a mine explosion. Mr. Bush did take time to recgonize the dead at a Pentagon news conference this morning. He did not acknowledge any of the deaths on the most bloody day in Iraq since December 15th.

Have a nice day.

posted by Wink @ 8:54 AM