Piety: “Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain…” — Qur’an 9:111.
“Iraqi officials say suicide bombs kill 78,” by Chelsea J. Carter for Associated Press, April 23 (thanks to James):
BAGHDAD — Suicide bombers struck a humanitarian aid distribution point and a crowded restaurant in separate attacks Thursday in Iraq, killing at least 78 people in the deadliest day of violence to strike the country this year….
The latest attacks came as Iraqi security officials said they captured one of the most wanted leaders of the al-Qaida-linked Sunni insurgency, an arrest that could deliver a significant blow to an intensified campaign of attacks.
The officials identified the arrested man as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi who’s believed to lead the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of Sunni militant factions that is believed dominated by Al-Qaida in Iraq. However in the past, Iraqi officials have reported al-Baghdadi’s arrest or killing, only to later say they were wrong. The U.S. military has even said al-Baghdadi could be a fictitious character used to give an Iraqi face to an organization dominated by foreign al-Qaida fighters….
In Baghdad, a suicide bomber blew himself up among a group of Iraqis collecting humanitarian aid in a mainly Shiite area, killing at least 31 people, the Iraqi military said.
The attacker struck as police were distributing Iraqi Red Crescent food parcels in the central neighborhood of Karradah, the main Baghdad military spokesman said….
Some police were among the 31 people killed and 51 people were wounded, the military said.
North of Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed 47 people, including Iranian pilgrims, in a crowded restaurant, said Iraqi and U.S. military officials….