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Bombers kill 74 at two mosques in Iraq
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-19 01:04
Iraqi soldiers secure the site where two cars
bombs exploded near a Baghdad hotel. At least 67 worshippers were killed
in suicide attacks on two Shiite mosques in eastern Iraq near the border
with Iran, hours after suicide bombers killed six people outside a Baghdad
hotel. [AFP] |
At first, the target appeared to be an Interior Ministry building where U.S.
troops on Sunday found about 170 detainees, some of whom appeared to have been
tortured.
Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, the deputy interior minister, said initial reports
indicated that "the first car bomber was trying to pave the way for the second
one ... to get in and hit the Hamra Hotel, not the Interior Ministry."
Also Friday, insurgents attacked U.S. and Iraqi troops in western Iraq,
setting off gunbattles that killed 32 insurgents, a U.S. military statement
said.
One Marine and an Iraqi soldier suffered minor injuries during the attack,
the U.S. forces said. Most of the fighting took place around the a mosque in the
center of the town.
"Marines reported that they received sustained small arms fire originating
from the mosque," the statement said. "A nearby U.S. Army outpost also reported
receiving enemy fire from the area surrounding the mosque."
The U.S. forces estimated that at least 50 insurgents took part in the
coordinated attack, which quickly dissipated when the Iraqi and U.S. forces
returned fire, the military said. Iraqi troops entered the mosque and found
spent ammunition.
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