14 Killed In Baghdad Pet Market Blast

(CBS/AP)  A bomb hidden in a box holding pigeons tore through a crowded animal market in central Baghdad on Friday, killing at least 14 people and wounding dozens, police said, in a blast that also left the carcasses of dead birds, dogs and other creatures scattered on the blood-soaked ground.

Violence continued across Iraq Friday — the Islamic holy day — as a bomb in Talafar killed at least nine people and further blasts in Mosul and the capital claimed an unknown number of casualties.

The attacks, mostly targeting Shiite civilians, come just days ahead of one of the holiest dates on the calendar for the Muslim sect — Ashura, the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussain, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson.

The market bomb in Baghdad exploded Friday late in the morning at the Souq al-Ghazl market, which attracts buyers and sellers peddling birds, dogs, cats, sheep and goats and exotic animals such as snakes and monkeys.

Police and hospital officials said at least 14 people were killed and 62 were wounded.

Iraqi police sources tell CBS News that the blasts in Talafar and Mosul targeted Shiite mosques, and although no further details on casualties were immediately available, the mosques were likely to have been full of men attending Friday afternoon prayers.

The sources say there were two late afternoon explosions in Baghdad, one of them an improvised explosive device believed to have killed two people. There was no information available on the other blast.

A witness of the morning explosion at the pet market said a man arrived with an egg carton containing pigeons for sale, but it exploded after he walked away to get a drink, striking the potential buyers gathering around the box.

Raad Hassan, a frequent customer at the market, said he was about 60 yards away from the site of the blast.

"My friends and I rushed to the scene where we saw burned dead bodies, pieces of flesh and several dead expensive puppies and birds," he said.

Ali Nassir said dead animals were scattered on the blood-soaked ground and several snakes, monkeys and birds had been let loose from their cages as ambulances and police cars converged on the scene.

"The policemen are firing in the air in order to disperse the crowds of people arriving to find out what happened to relatives who were missing," he said. "The explosion was huge and happened in a crowded place."

An 18-year-old homing pigeon vendor who was wounded expressed frustration at the unrelenting violence in the capital.

"I went this morning to the animal market to earn some money and to entertain myself, instead I was hit by the explosion and lost consciousness, my pigeons and my mobile phone," Sajad Abdel-Jabar said from his hospital bed.

The attack occurred at one of the busiest times at the weekly market and was the latest in a series of bombings against busy commercial targets in the capital as suspected Sunni insurgents seek to maximize the number of casualties in pressing their campaign of violence before a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown gets started.

The blast also came an hour before the start of a four-hour vehicle ban that is imposed every Friday in the capital to prevent car bombs from striking mosques during weekly Islamic prayers.

The al-Ghazl market, or Spinning Market, also was attacked in early June, when two bombings struck in quick succession, killing at least five people, as insurgents often strike commercial targets to maximize the casualties.

The popular market stands on the eastern side of the Tigris River next to the famous 13th century Sunni Ulama Mosque that was built by the Abbasid dynasty. The shops around the mosque used to be for its spinning mills but the area transformed into an animal market a few decades ago.

The shops are open all the week but vendors come on Friday and set up stalls on the 500-yard-long stretch of pavement on Jumhuri Street.

In other developments:

A U.S. Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 6 also was killed in fighting Friday in the insurgent stronghold of Anbar province, west of Baghdad, the military said. The death raises to at least 3,070 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Street sweepers and trash collectors worked to clear the wreckage as cranes towed burned-out cars away after Thursday's bombing in Karradah, which killed at least 26 people. It was the second blast targeting the primarily Shiite neighborhood in two days. Many in the neighborhood called for revenge against Sunnis and urged Iraq's spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to issue a fatwa allowing them to take it.

Police also found a bomb in Karradah, apparently targeting a Shiite procession that is part of the 10-day Ashoura festival, which marks the death of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and one of the most-revered Shiite saints. The bomb could not be defused so police detonated the explosive device in a controlled blast, which damaged several stores.

Seven tortured bodies of people who had been blindfolded and had their hands and legs bound before they were shot in the head were found in the capital Friday, according to police.

A former member of Saddam Hussein's ousted Baath Party and an interpreter who works for the U.S. military were killed in two separate drive-by shootings in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed Thursday to go after those behind Baghdad's rampant violence no matter where they try to hide and regardless of sectarian beliefs, promising at the same time to ensure the human rights of innocent Iraqis. "We are full of hope. We have no other choice but to use force and any place where we receive fire will not be safe even if it is a school, a mosque, a political party office or home," he said. "There will be no safe place in Iraq for terrorists."

[middleman8]

lieberman18 RUN don't walk to the nearest mental instituion.

[feelfree1]

singinrick,

Your comments are really self-debunking.

[feelfree1]

susieq_13,

Re: "Why do they keep blowing up their own people? What is wrong with them?"

From:

"Negroponte and the escalation of death"

www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IA11Ak03.html

"Under the "Salvador Option", Negroponte had assistance from his colleague from his days in Central America during the 1980s, retired Colonel James Steele. Steel, whose title in Baghdad was counselor for Iraqi security forces, supervised the selection and training of members of the Badr Organization and Mehdi Army, the two largest Shi'ite militias in Iraq, to target the leadership and support networks of a primarily Sunni resistance."

"Planned or not, these death squads promptly spiraled out of control to become the leading cause of death in Iraq. Intentional or not, the scores of tortured, mutilated bodies that turn up on the streets of Baghdad each day are generated by the death squads whose impetus was Negroponte. And it is this US-backed sectarian violence that largely led to the hell-disaster that Iraq is today."

[feelfree1]

SharnCedar,

Re: "Why is he coming out with all this "I am the decider" junk? Why would he make himself so visible and so reponsible for what is clearly a bungled effort?"

My hypothesis: the Republicans realize that their "surge" plan has zero chance of anything resembling a military success. Even supporters like McCain have hedged by stating that they are not sure if the "plan" will work. Translation- they know full well that it won't.

However, if they can sucker the Democrats (again) into taking action like cutting off funds, they can claim that their "plan" would have worked, if the Democrats would not have surrendered so easily.

The result- the Democrats get to look like they stood up to the "Decider", the Republicans get to blame their mess in Iraq on the Democrats, and, with freed up military resources, the PNAC extremists can then move on to supporting the pending Israeli attack on Iran.

Since the Democrat Party is also in the pocket of Israeli extremist groups like AIPAC, they will have no choice but to support this Israeli effort.

[fedup2007]

"Bush: 'I'm the decision-maker' on Iraq...." Isn't that amazing!
How about:
"...Earlier in the Oval Office, Bush was asked about stepped-up activities in Iraq against Iranian activities thought to be fueling the violence. Bush defended the policy, but said it is no indication that the United States intends to expand the confrontation beyond Iraq's borders...."
Read the Yahoo article and you will laugh on how a man such as this President can be so blinded by his on ego. But of course we can't laugh because there are so many people getting killed.
What I do know is that wars will be more prevalent because the bible says: %u201CYou will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.%u201D Matthew 24:6.
God allows evil to exist in order for His written word to come true. God gives men freedom to choose and "fortunately" Jesus return will be soon because %u201Cevil%u201D is getting to be the %u201Cin%u201D thing to do nowadays, even for so called %u201CConservative Christians.%u201D
I hope and pray that many of the earth%u2019s population will repent and for them to start a beautiful relationship with our Lord Jesus.

[sharncedar]

There is something fishy about Bush. Why is he coming out with all this "I am the decider" junk? Why would he make himself so visible and so reponsible for what is clearly a bungled effort?

He is being a good Republican, letting himself take the blame for the thing. He probably had nothing to do with the decision or the war, and the forces who did are putting him up front and center to take the abuse and blame. Bush is a good Republican, if that is the case. He is doing his duty, I have more respect for the man. He obeys orders, which I think is what passes for morals with these types.

What else can explain the fact that Bush spends most of his time at Camp David riding his bike and fooling around, except now and then to appear on TV and say "I take the blame, it my war, really it is".

Bush is being set up. It makes him look like a good man, in an odd way. A good soldier, a loyal mafia guy, doing what he's told even to take the fall for someone else's screw up.

[susieq_13]

Why do they keep blowing up their own people? What is wrong with them?

[middleman8]

Has any one considered who blew up the first Mosque to get ethnic confrontation going. Who gained the most from this? It would be interesting to know.

[bluestardad]

. So while Bush Flew the family of Bin Laden out of America after 9/11 and did not hold Saudi Arabia Accountable for the 15 of the 19 Hijackers that Attacked America. American Vice President Cheney jumps on a plane at the beckon call of the House of Saud and kneels before the Leader of Saudi Arabia promising that America won%u2019t leave Iraq. Meanwhile President Bush disbands the Secret Unit Hunting Bin Laden and put in Afghanistan Jails all the Bounty Hunters who have been hunting Bin Laden, but he feels free to pull out the threat of the Boogie Man Bin Laden when ever it serves his purpose in an attempt to scare the American People into giving up Civil Liberties. The Slam Dunk, Mushroom Cloud Intelligence Chief gets a medal and Promoted to Civilian while the No Actionable Intelligence, National Security Director gets promoted to Secretary of State and Insults the Countries of Iraq and Syria so much that she cannot negotiate with them to stop the War in Iraq that the Bush Administration started upon False pretenses. Now the war cost 3 American Soldiers lives a day and two billion dollars a week has been so mismanaged that Bush is having a hard time finding Army Military Yes men to handle his blunders to the point of he has to promote a Navy person to oversee the two land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Does anyone in America think we should not impeach this Administration at a minimum or worse?

[lewyoowy]

The shiite and sunni terrorists are now facing extintion, Bush will win his war.

Once animal rights groups like PETA get hold of thisstory, the insurgency is as good as dead.

Poor little birdies.