At least 65 people were killed and 85 wounded when suicide bombers blew themselves up yesterday amid worshippers at two Shiite mosques in Khanaqin, northeast of Baghdad, an Iraqi interior ministry source said.
"It is possible that the death toll will increase," said Kariran Ahmed Medid, the head of the main Khanaqin hospital.
The hospital director spoke less than three hours after two suicide bombers wearing explosive belts walked into the Greater and the Smaller Khanaqin mosques during prayers and blew themselves up.
PHOTO: EPA
Authorities immediately imposed a curfew in the majority Shiite Kurdish town near the Iranian border, some 170km from Baghdad
A member of the local council said the death toll could exceed 100.
Another blast was reported near a bank in the town, police said.
Ibrahim Ahmed Bajalan, a member of the Diyala Provincial Council, said the destruction was so bad that many bodies were trapped in the rubble of the mosques and couldn't be easily extracted.
"I think there are more than 100 people dead," he told reporters.
The attacks in Khanaqin, a mixed Shiite and Kurdish town, seemed certain to fuel sectarian tensions ahead of a Dec. 15 election that Washington hopes will pave the way for peace and democracy two and a half year after the US-led invasion.
The Shiite- and Kurdish-led government and its US backers are fighting a mainly Sunni Arab insurgency that has frequently targeted civilians in crowded places like mosques and markets.
Police said the bombers entered the small mosques in Khanaqin with explosive belts strapped to their waists and detonated themselves when the buildings were at their busiest -- during prayers on the Muslim holy day.
In Baghdad earlier yesterday, two suicide truck bombs targeted a prominent hotel but failed to pierce the perimeter and destroyed an apartment block instead, killing at least six people, including two children, police said.
The blast was also in the area of an Interior Ministry prison bunker at the center of a detainee abuse scandal that has deepened sectarian tensions, but the US military and security experts said the al-Hamarra Hotel was the primary target.
Police said at least six people died and 40 were wounded in the near simultaneous blasts. There were no reports of foreign casualties. Witnesses at the hotel said some victims' body parts were found in the swimming pool and in the street outside.
Security camera footage showed a white van driving up to blast walls at the perimeter of the hotel complex and exploding. About 20 seconds later the second explosion blew out the camera.
The nearby apartment building was reduced to rubble, about 20 cars were destroyed and dozens of firefighters and soldiers were searching for residents trapped beneath wreckage.
Distraught women in black veils slapped their heads as they surveyed the destruction. A man embraced a weeping woman.
US Colonel Ed Cardon told reporters at the scene that two vehicles drove at blast walls protecting the al-Hamarra.
The plan appeared to be for the first to open a path for the second to breach the outer defenses and cause more damage, he said.
A foreign security consultant said it looked like a clear attempt to get inside the hotel compound.
It was the second major attack on high-profile hotels in Baghdad in a month. The Sheraton and Palestine hotels were hit late last month.
About three hours later, US troops blew up a suspected car bomb in the same area.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel