|
The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
|
September 28th,
2009 - Holy Month Ends, and Violence Rises Again in Iraq |
|
Holy Month
Ends, and Violence Rises Again in Iraq By Timothy Williams New York Times September 28, 2009 Baghdad - Eighteen people
were killed and at least 55 others were wounded in bombings across Iraq on
Monday as the country’s level of violence picked up again after a relative
lull during the holy month of Ramadan. Monday’s attacks occurred in
Shiite and Sunni areas of the country and took aim not only at the Iraqi Army
and the police but also at civilians. In the western Baghdad
neighborhood of Ghazaliya, two bombs were detonated - the first directed at a
passing Iraqi Army patrol, the second at people who gathered to see the
wreckage, Iraqi security officials said. The first blast, caused by a
roadside bomb around 1:45 p.m. caused no deaths, but it wounded one civilian.
The second bomb, which had been attached to a parked motorcycle, detonated
minutes later, killing 3 people and wounding 28, an Iraqi security official
said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak to reporters. Among the casualties was the
chief of the Iraqi Army regiment responsible for patrolling Ghazaliya, where
Sunnis and Shiites had lived side by side before sectarian warfare tore the
social fabric apart several years ago. They now live in areas separated by
police and army checkpoints. The attacks occurred in the Sunni portion of the
neighborhood. The injured included 12
soldiers and 8 police officers, officials said. Explosions also rattled
other parts of the country. About 30 minutes after the Ghazaliya attack, a
bomb attached to a minibus in Qadisiya Province exploded, killing three
passengers and wounding four, the authorities said. The bomb had apparently
been placed on the bus as it traveled from Hilla, the capital of Babil
Province, to Diwaniya, the capital of Qadisiya, about 100 miles south of
Baghdad. The area is largely Shiite. Fifteen policemen
responsible for the checkpoints that the minibus had passed through were
arrested as part of an investigation, security officials said. An hour later, in the desert
west of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, a suicide bomber detonated a
water tanker packed with explosives at a checkpoint outside a police station,
killing 7 officers and wounding 17 others who were members of a
quick-response team, an Anbar police official said, speaking on the condition
of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to reporters. The police station was
housed in temporary trailers, about 20 of which were burned, along with
several police cars, the police official said. On Monday morning in Diyala
Province, northeast of Baghdad, two civilians were killed and another was
wounded after a roadside bomb exploded as their car passed in the town of
Khan Bani Saad, the authorities said. Various areas of Diyala Province are
contested by Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. In another contested area,
the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, a roadside bomb aimed at a police patrol
killed three officers and wounded four others, security officials said. Reporting was contributed by
Sa’ad al-Izzi, Duraid Adnan, Amir A. al-Obeidi and Mohammed Hussein from
Baghdad, and by Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Qadisiya, Diyala,
Nineveh and Anbar Provinces. External link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/world/middleeast/29iraq.html |