Explosions Rock Baghdad
By SAM DAGHER And ALI A. NABHAN
BAGHDAD—Dozens of people were killed on Thursday in a series of coordinated explosions that struck several neighborhoods in the Iraqi capital, within days of the U.S. military withdrawal from the country, amid a political crisis that has renewed fears of an outbreak of sectarian and ethnic warfare.The attacks during the morning rush hour targeted Sunni, Shiite and mixed neighborhoods, hitting mostly civilian targets, including an elementary school. Some bore the hallmarks of bombing campaigns by al Qaeda-linked Sunni militants.
U.S. officials warned earlier this month, before the official completion of the military withdrawal on Dec. 18, that insurgents, though weakened, would seek to challenge Iraqi security forces after the troop departure.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, blamed the attacks on political rivals he said were seeking to bring down his government, while two top Sunni politicians warned of attempts to plunge Iraq back into the dark days of sectarian warfare that consumed the country before the U.S. troop surge in 2007.
Many average Iraqis saw the attacks as a direct consequence of the bitter political feuding between Shiite and Sunni politicians intensified in October, when U.S. President Barack Obama announced all troops would come home this year. The feud became a crisis over the past week with the issue of an arrest warrant for the country's Sunni vice president.
Many Iraqis characterized the bombings as a sign of the failure of the country's entire political establishment.
"If my voice reaches them I would tell them: 'We do not want you, enough, you have hurt us too much,' " said the 20-year-old owner of a small business in Baghdad's popular Shorja market. He had to shut down and go home because of the bombings as a sense of foreboding descended on the capital.
The bombings took place despite significantly stepped-up security measures and patrols the night before by Iraqi troops. After the attacks Thursday, streets were virtually deserted as security forces checked every vehicle entering some of Baghdad's more volatile neighborhoods.
By nighttime several more explosions were heard across the capital but their cause wasn't immediately known. Authorities in the province of Babil, south of Baghdad, enforced a curfew.
Security forces went on maximum alert in the northern province of Kirkuk, the object of a highly charged ethnic conflict. Arab residents blamed Kurds for kidnapping and killing an Arab resident, whose badly mutilated body was found Thursday.
The attacks in Baghdad, which numbered at least 12 and involved mostly car bombs and improvised explosive devices, started at about 6:30 a.m. local time and lasted for about two hours, according to an official with the Ministry of Interior and the special security task force for the capital. The final toll was 57 killed and 176 wounded, according to the Ministry of Health.
Most roads were cut off for traffic as the Iraqi army and police cordoned off the numerous blast sites across Baghdad. Sirens of emergency vehicles were heard throughout the day.
The worst attack involved a suicide bomber driving an ambulance packed with explosives blowing up in front of the offices of the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity in the central district of Karrada. There, 13 people were killed and 36 wounded, according to the Ministry of Interior. Karrada is a mixed commercial and residential area inhabited mostly by Shiites and Christians. The explosion sent a thick plume of smoke into the morning sky and damaged several buildings and stores along the main road, including the St. Rafael hospital. By afternoon, angry and grief-stricken shopkeepers were cleaning up the debris and broken glass.
One of the earlier attacks, involving two improvised explosive devices and a car bomb, targeted day laborers waiting for work at the busy Alawi transportation terminal in central Baghdad.
The latest spasm of violence came one day after Prime Minister Maliki warned his coalition partners that any moves to bring down the government would unravel the political system and lead to a situation where the majority Shiites decide the shape of the government on their own.
In a news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Maliki asked authorities in the country's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region to hand over Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a prominent Sunni Arab leader, who has taken refuge there after the arrest warrant was issued against him on Monday for allegedly running hit squads targeting Shiites.
Mr. Maliki said he had plenty of evidence implicating other political leaders and factions, which he didn't name, in acts of violence.
—Jabbar Yaseen
contributed to this article
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario