Suicide bombers killed 33 people and wounded at least 40 on Friday at a sports stadium hosting a campaign rally for thousands of supporters of a militant Shiite group before parliamentary elections, authorities said — an attack that could unleash more sectarian violence.
An al-Qaeda breakaway group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, claimed responsibility for the attack at the Industrial Stadium in eastern Baghdad, which drew about 10,000 backers of the Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq group.
The group said on a Web site that the bombings were to avenge what it called the killing of Sunnis and their forced removal from their homes by Shiite militias.
Photo: Reuters
The authenticity of the claim could not be independently verified.
The attack was a stark reminder of the sectarian violence that has plagued Iraq more than two years after US troops ended an eight-year presence that often served as a buffer between the nation’s Shiite majority and its Sunni Arab minority.
Last year, the death toll in the country climbed to its highest levels since the worst of the sectarian bloodshed between 2006 and 2008. The UN says 8,868 people were killed last year, and more than 1,400 people were killed in the first two months of this year alone.
The rally was organized to introduce the group’s candidates for Wednesday’s election. More than 9,000 candidates are taking part and will vie for 328 seats in parliament. Parts of the Sunni-dominated Anbar Province will not take part in the election due the clashes there between security forces and al-Qaeda-inspired militants.
A top intelligence officer and security officials said a senior Sunni politician in the southern city of Basra, Abdul-Kareem al-Dussary, was shot and killed on Friday night in what appeared to be a revenge attack for the Baghdad bombings. The officer and the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
The resurgence of sectarian violence is in part a reflection of the three-year-old conflict in neighboring Syria, where forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are battling mostly Sunni rebels whose ranks are dominated by Islamists or militants from al-Qaeda-inspired or linked groups. Al-Assad follows the Alawite faith, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Asaib Ahl al-Haq, like Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah, has sent fighters to Syria to join al-Assad’s side in the civil war.
The bombings at the heavily guarded stadium struck about 10 minutes apart.
Intense gunfire rang out after the first explosion and continued throughout, but it is not uncommon for Iraqi security forces to fire in the air after major attacks.
Some in the crowd fled to a nearby building under construction in the complex as female parliamentary candidates screamed and prayed for safety. Others ran from the stadium or took refuge behind the large stage erected for the rally.
Adding to the panic was the appearance overhead of a low-flying small aircraft that dropped election pamphlets.
The first explosion struck as men and women in colorful Arab medieval costumes were engaged in a short performance of a play depicting the seventh century martyrdom of the Shiites’ most revered saint, Imam Hussein, in Karbala, Iraq.
The rally was addressed by Asaib Ahl al-Haq’s leader, Sheik Qais al-Khazali, a young cleric who had spent years in US detention, but was released after he was handed over to the Iraqi government. In his speech, he challenged the Sunni militants holding parts of two cities in Anbar Province, which is predominantly Sunni.
“We are ready and prepared to defend this nation,” said al-Khazali, a one-time close aide of anti-US Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
“Let it be known that Asaib will be the remedy,” he said.
Security guards jumped on al-Khazali after the first explosion and then rushed him to his armored SUV.
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