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Car bomb attacks kill more than 50 in two cities

Car bombs ripped through crowded areas at lunch hour in the former Sunni insurgent strongholds of Baqubah and Ramadi yesterday, killing more than 50 people in one of the deadliest days in Iraq in months.

A parked car bomb also targeted a police patrol in central Baghdad, killing four civilians who were passing by and wounding 15 other people, police said.

The first attack occurred in Baqubah, 60km northeast of Baghdad, when an explosives-laden car parked in front of a restaurant exploded just before noon across the street from the courthouse and other government offices in the city center.

Many of the victims were people visiting the government offices, petition writers helping people with documents in outside stalls or the occupants of cars that were caught in the explosion as they passed through the area, witnesses said.

One man who was there described a huge fire that sent black smoke billowing into the sky and left charred bodies inside their cars.

“I was on my way to the government office when a big explosion occurred near by,” said the witness, who would only identify himself by his nickname Abu Ali.

“As I approached the site, I saw cars on fire, burned bodies and damaged shops damaged with shattered glass everywhere,” he said.

Blast walls protect the government compound and the road in front of it is closed, causing traffic jams as cars must travel in two directions in the adjacent lane.

Several cars and minibuses were set ablaze, while more than 10 shops and the restaurant were heavily damaged.

At least 38 people were killed and 64 wounded in the blast, police and hospital officials said on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information.

It was the deadliest blast in Baqubah since Oct. 29, when 27 people were killed in a suicide bombing outside a police camp.

Another parked car bomb exploded near a kebab restaurant at about 12:30pm in Ramadi, killing at least 14 people and wounding 14 others, police Lieutenant Colonel Jubair al-Dulaimi said. He said the attack occurred in an area known as the Five Kilometers area for its distance west of the city center.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attacks, but they bore the hallmarks of al-Qaeda attacks.


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