55 Killed in Baghdad Bombings
By Borzou Daragahi
The Los Angeles Times

Thursday 06 March 2008

At least 131 are injured in the evening attacks in a busy shopping district. The first bomb went off in a trash bin; then a suicide attacker detonated his charge as rescuers and onlookers gathered.
Baghdad - A pair of bombs rocked a busy shopping district in the Iraqi capital today, killing at least 55 civilians and security officials and injuring 131 in a devastating attack on a neighborhood that had begun to emerge from the doldrums of war.

One of the blasts was caused by a suicide bomber wearing an explosives packed belt, said an official at the Iraqi Ministry of Interior.

The explosions erupted just before 7 p.m. as shoppers and pedestrians walked along the streets of the busy and well-lit Karada district on a Thursday night, which is the equivalent of Friday night in the West.

The attack appeared to have been designed to inflict maximum casualties. The first explosion went off in a dumpster near an outdoor produce market, killing three and injuring a dozen.

The disruption attracted onlookers, rescuers and security officials. The suicide bomber was among the crowd. He set his belt off about five minutes after the first explosion, security officials said.

"I ran outside to see what was going on, only to have the second blast going off," said Kareem Abdullah, the 27-year-old proprietor of a shop selling new and used clothing 200 yards away from the site of the explosions. "I could see fire and smoke. I saw people thrown to the ground. I couldn't tell if they were unconscious or dead."

Young men hurried to help, handing water to victims and cleaning wounds. Ambulances and good Samaritans transferred victims to 13 hospitals throughout eastern Baghdad.

Redha Mohammed awaited word on the fate of his son Hisham at Medical City hospital, where as many as 30 of the victims had been brought. When he heard about the blast, the elder Mohammed rushed to the site, only to be told that his son had been taken to the hospital.

"He has deep wounds in his abdomen and severe burns," he said of his son, who peddles costume jewelry in Karada. "They're trying to stop the bleeding."

Firefighters sprayed the flames with water, some of which pooled on the streets and mixed with the blood of the victims. At least 16 of the dead and 28 of the injured were security officials on hand to help the victims of the first explosion. The blasts crushed shops and mangled more than a dozen motor vehicles.

The attack targeted one of the relative success stories of the Baghdad security plan. Mostly Shiite Muslim and middle class Karada is one of the city's few neighborhoods to remain vibrant well past dark.

Daily attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces in Iraq have decreased dramatically over the last six months but persist. This morning a roadside bomb targeting a passing Iraqi army patrol killed one civilian and injured seven other bystanders.

Police found the bullet-ridden bodies of three Iraqi men dumped in various parts of the capital, and another body late Wednesday night near the southern city of Hillah.

Also today, the U.S. military disclosed details of a U.S. service member killed in the crash of an Iraqi helicopter Monday. Officials identified the man as Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher S. Frost, 24, a military journalist from Waukesha, Wis.

Officials said he was a military journalist covering the Iraqi troops, not a pilot of the aircraft as Iraqi officials originally reported.

At least 3,974 U.S. military personnel have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion five years ago this month, according to the independent website icasualties.org.



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Special correspondents in Baghdad and Hillah contributed to this report.
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I think they are missiles, I don't buy all that suicide stuff.