|
String of car bombs kills 99 in Iraq
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-30 16:45
Three suicide attackers exploded near-simultaneous car bombs in the heart of
a bustling, mainly Shiite town Thursday, killing at least 99 people and wounding
124 amid a new surge of violence before an Oct. 15 referendum on Iraq's
constitution.
Apparently aimed at killing a large number of Shiite civilians, the string of
bombings started just before sunset when the first blast ripped through an
open-air market crowded with Iraqis buying vegetables. The next bomb exploded at
a bank just yards away, followed by a third on a nearby street of clothing
shops.
Sunni insurgents have vowed to wreck the referendum, whose passage is crucial
to prospects for starting a withdrawal of American troops. Al-Qaida in Iraq has
declared "all-out war" on the Shiite majority that dominates Iraq's government,
and moderate Sunni Arab leaders called on their community to reject the
constitution, saying it will fragment Iraq and leave them weak compared to
Shiites and Kurds.
The U.S. ambassador has been struggling to negotiate changes to the charter
in hopes of winning Sunni Arab support. Frustrating his efforts, Sunnis said
U.S. troops raided the homes of two Sunni leaders on Thursday, fueling their
sense of alienation in the political process.
Also Thursday, the U.S. military announced the deaths of five U.S. soldiers
Wednesday in a roadside bombing during combat in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, a
hotbed of Iraq's insurgency.
An Iraqi boy walks to school passing by a
burning US military vehicle, in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2005.
[AP] | It was the deadliest single attack against American troops in more than a
month, bringing to 1,934 the number of U.S. service members who have died since
Iraq's war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. About
180 people, including 13 U.S. service members, have been killed in the past four
days.
Until Thursday, however, Balad — 50 miles north of
Baghdad and the site of a major U.S. military air base — had seen few major
attacks.
|
 | | | Los Angeles fire | | |  | | | Australia fending off bird flu | | |  | | | Massive Indonesian vaccination drive against polio resumes | | |
|
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top World
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
