Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
A case of thanksgiving	paraclete	11/23/06
as you give thanks you are not fighting terrorism at home, are you giving thanks for this, the consequence of carrying that fight to foreign shores? Worst Iraq blast since war Iraqis walk past the site of a car bomb explosion in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. Iraqis walk past the site of a car bomb explosion in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. Photo: AP November 24, 2006 - 7:09AM In the worst attack on Baghdad since the war to unseat Saddam Hussein, insurgents killed at least 152 people and wounded 236 in a series of car bombings in the Shi'ite district of Sadr City, security and medical sources said. The attacks prompted the interior ministry to announce an indefinite curfew in the capital, effective from 8pm today (0400 AEDT Friday) . Wounded clogged the hospitals of Sadr City, with dozens lying bleeding in the corridors as overworked staff struggled to tend to the casualties. "Of those killed, 88 bodies are in the Imam Ali hospital and 55 in Sadr City hospital," a medic said, saying many of the bodies were burned beyond recognition. A police official said other bodies were taken to hospitals outside the district. Hospital security forces kept at bay hundreds of relatives struggling to see the dead and wounded. The bloodiest bomb exploded in a crowded market in the Hay neighbourhood, targeting stores selling religious CDs, as well as electronics outlets selling mobile phones. In the increasingly bitter sectarian war gripping the capital, crowded markets in Shi'ite neighbourhoods and villages have been popular targets for the bombers of the Sunni-led insurgency. In the market, the twisted frame of a car carrying the explosives sat amid the wreckage of the shops, while everywhere the ground was littered with pools of blood and debris from the stores. As ambulances rushed to attend to the wounded, pillars of black smoke billowed over the stricken neighbourhood and inhabitants collected the bits of flesh left by the dead. Interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Abdel Karim Khalaf told state television Al-Iraqiya that police believe a total of eight bombs were planted in Sadr City. "Four of them exploded, one we have located and also arrested the driver of the car, but three are still to be detected," Khalaf said, without elaborating. He also said 10 rounds slammed into Sadr City after the bombings and were expected to have caused casualties. Minutes before the blasts about 100 masked gunmen attacked the Shi'ite-controlled health ministry clashing with guards and Iraqi soldiers, Deputy Health Minister Hakim al-Zamili said. "First a series of mortars were fired at the building from the nearby Al-Fadhel neighbourhood, and then about 100 masked gunmen holding machine guns attacked the building," said Zamili. "About 2,000 employees are trapped in the building. I am also in the building," he added. "The gunmen came in civilian cars and pick-up trucks and started shooting at the building and wounded a number of employees." The attack was eventually dispersed, and only five people were wounded, he added. On Sunday, gunmen kidnapped Deputy Health minister Ammar al-Assafar from his home in Baghdad's Adhamiyah district. Zamili himself escaped an assassination bid on Monday, but two of his guards were killed in the ambush. The attack on the ministry mirrors a November 14 raid on the Sunni-controlled ministry of higher education, in which at least 150 people were kidnapped. In the aftermath of the attacks in Sadr City and on the ministry, some 13 mortar rounds rained down on Adhamiyah, a Sunni neighbourhood, wounding 10 people. Explosions continued to reverberate through Baghdad well into the night. Sadr City, the impoverished district of followers loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, was also the site of an early morning incident involving American soldiers. "US troops fired on a minibus carrying workers and killed a number of them in Al-Falah street at 6am," Imam Abdel Zahra al-Suwaidi from the Sadr movement said. A medic at the Sadr City hospital said four people were killed and eight wounded, including two women. But the US military said Iraqi forces fired on the vehicle during a raid to detain the leader of a kidnapping cell. "A vehicle displaying hostile intent was identified as an immediate threat to Iraqi forces. Iraqi forces fired on the vehicle to neutralise the threat," the military said without mentioning civilian casualties. US forces have regularly raided Sadr City to hunt for leaders of kidnapping cells alleged to be militiamen loyal to Sadr. On Wednesday, a UN report said Iraq's sectarian conflict killed at least 3,709 people in October, the highest monthly death toll since the 2003 US-led invasion. The figures, from data provided by the health ministry and morgues, compared with a previous high of 3,590 in July, which the United Nations at the time called "unprecedented." The report came as US President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki prepared to meet in Jordan next Wednesday. Meanwhile, the US military said three more soldiers were killed in Iraq, bringing its losses since the invasion to 2,866, according to Pentagon figures. Police also recovered eight bodies near the central city of Diwaniyah, while 12 people were reported killed in the city of Baquba. US Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey arrived in Baghdad today to visit troops on the Thanksgiving holiday, a military spokeswoman said. AFP
Answered By		Answered On
drgade		11/25/06
I am saddened that such people have been allowed to move freely in Baghdad and are supported by so many "freedom lovers". The problem of Iraq is still that the citizenship has not yet moved out of being victims of oppressors. Maybe more will wake up and help us get our troops out while they take over the protction of their own people.

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