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Car bomb kills 22; Shiite Shrine bombed
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-22 15:03
A car bomb exploded Tuesday on a street packed with shoppers in a Shiite area
of Baghdad, killing 22 people and wounding 28, police said. It was the deadliest
bomb attack in the Iraqi capital in a month.
Early Wednesday, a large explosion destroyed the golden dome of one of Iraq's
most famous Shiite religious shrines in Samarra, the US military said, sending
protesters pouring into the streets.
Injured Iraqi woman
and a child wait for further treatment in Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad
following an explosion, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2006. A car bomb exploded
Tuesday at an outdoor market in a Shiite area of southwestern Baghdad,
killing 22 people and injuring 28, police said. It appeared to be the
deadliest car bombing against civilians in the capital in weeks.
[AP] |
Police believed there were victims buried under the debris but had no
immediate casualty figures.
The blast occurred about 6:55 a.m. at the Askariya Shrine, which contains the
tombs of two revered Shiite imams, police Capt. Laith Mohammed said. It was the
third major attack on a Shiite target in as many days after two deadly
explosions in Shiite parts of Baghdad, raising fears of an escalation in
sectarian violence.
Also Wednesday a roadside bomb exploded near a primary school in a mostly
Shiite area in southern Iraq, killing two boys and injuring four others, police
said. The incident happened at about 7:45 a.m. in the Bashrogiya area near Kut,
100 miles southeast of Baghdad, police Lt. Othman al-Rawi said.
Meanwhile, terrified children screamed and several women wailed for their
dead, crying, "the terrorists, may God punish them." Shattered bits of fruits
and vegetables from vendors' pushcarts lay scattered on the street amid pools of
blood.
At least eight other people were killed and more than 30 injured Tuesday in
bombings and shootings elsewhere in Baghdad and in attacks on beauty parlors and
liquor stores — symbols of Western influence — in Baqouba northeast of the
capital.
The car bombing occurred shortly before 5 p.m. in a Shiite corner of Dora, a
predominantly Sunni Arab district of Baghdad and one of the most dangerous parts
of the city — rocked almost daily by bombings, ambushes and assassinations.
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