Al-Qaeda blasts in Iraq kill over 120

Iraqi jihad update. "Explosions Across Iraq Kill More Than 120," from AP, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- As many as 10 explosions ripped the Iraqi capital Wednesday, beginning with a huge suicide car bombing that shattered the morning calm in a heavily Shiite northern Baghdad district, targeting laborers gathered to find work for the day. At least 88 people were killed and 227 wounded in that attack alone.

In all, the attacks in or near the capital - including the execution of 17 men in a village north of Baghdad - killed more than 120 people and the death toll was rising rapidly. Al-Qaida in Iraq said it was behind the attacks.

A senior American military official told The Associated Press he believed the rash of bombings was retaliation for the joint Iraqi-U.S. sweep through the northern city of Tal Afar in recent days to evict insurgents from their stronghold near the Syrian border.

The bomb that hit as laborers gathered in Kazimiyah was the single deadliest in the country since Feb. 28, when a suicide car bomber targeted Shiite police and National Guard recruits, killing 125 people in Hillah, 60 miles south of Baghdad.

Posted by Robert at September 14, 2005 8:53 AM
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