Winks Blog

Bombing in Basra 15 + Killed, 30+ Injured, 8 Severed Heads Found, More Bodies Found and Others Killed

Good morning,

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomb exploded at the main outdoor market in the southern city of Basra on Saturday, killing 15 people and wounding 30, Iraqi police said.

Police also found eight severed heads north of Baghdad with a note indicating they were killed in retaliation for the slaying of four Shiite doctors, while a Russian diplomat was shot to death and four colleagues were abducted in the capital.

In Basra, the country's second biggest city, police Capt. Mushtaq Kadhim said a suicide attacker blew up the car bomb in late afternoon when many people were shopping. The blast left the square drenched in blood and set several vehicles on fire.

It wasn't known who staged the attack, but Basra has seen growing violence and unrest recently, leading Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last week to declare a monthlong state of emergency in the mainly Shiite city.

The attack in the predominantly Shiite city also came a day after the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq released an Internet harangue seeking to enflame tensions between Iraq's Sunnis and Shiites.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's four-hour audiotape railed against Shiites, accusing them of killing Sunni Arabs and raping Sunni women. He urged Sunnis to defend themselves.

Al-Zarqawi's Sunni followers have staged some of the deadliest suicide bombings in Iraq's conflict and have frequently targeted Shiite civilians and mosques in an attempt to spark civil war. In his statements, the Jordanian-born militant often vilifies Shiites as infidels.

The grisly discovery of the heads in a village near Baqouba came as at least 11 other people were killed in that volatile city 35 miles northeast of the capital.

Five of those whose heads were found were security guards at a hospital complex in Baghdad who were arrested by Iraqi police Thursday, Lt. Col. Adil Al-Zihari of the Diyala police said.

Notes with the heads said one of the dead men was Abdul Aziz al-Sheik Hamad and accused him of killing four Shiite doctors and a former governor during the administration of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

The heads were taken in fruit boxes to the morgue in Baqouba, a mixed Sunni-Shiite city that has recently seen an increase in sectarian violence.

Gunmen also attacked a police checkpoint in Baqouba on Saturday, killing seven officers and wounding five pedestrians, while six mortar rounds hit a central square and killed a child, police said. Two car parts salesmen and a mechanic were shot to death while working.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said its diplomat was killed and four other employees were kidnapped when assailants ambushed a Russian Embassy car carrying "workers of the Russian foreign service who were performing their official duties."

The statement said authorities were investigating the incident and were working with Iraqi and international authorities to secure the release of the captives. It did not identify the victims.

At least 439 foreigners, including some diplomats, have been abducted in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion three years ago, according to figures provided this month by a U.S. anti-kidnapping task force. Russia opposed the invasion and has no troops here.

Also in Baghdad, gunmen in a car shot up a vehicle carrying two people, killing a car salesman and wounding the second person in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Dora, police reported.

Gunmen also ambushed an ambulance in Dora, killing the driver and wounding a passenger, police Lt. Muhammed al-Baghdadi said.

At least four other bodies were found across Baghdad. One man had been shot to death with his hands and legs bound, then dumped behind a hospital in the Shiite district of Sadr City. Three other men who also were bound and fatally shot showed signs of torture. Two were left near a ditch in Sadr City; the other was found at an intersection in eastern Baghdad.


Have a nice day.

posted by Wink @ 9:13 AM