BAGHDAD, May 8, 2007

Blast Kills 16 In Shiite Holy City

Car Bomb Tears Through Market; Country's Top Sunni Threatens Government Pull-Out

  • Play CBS Video Video Sen. Snowe's Plan For Iraq

    President Bush's fellow Republican Olympia Snowe has a plan for Iraq that she says is different from what the Democrats are proposing. Jim Axelrod spoke exclusively with her.

  • Video Joint Effort To Help Iraq

    Dozens of nations have gathered in Egypt in an effort to help stabilize Iraq. The event included a high-level meeting between the U.S. and Syria. Charlie D'Agata reports.

    • Relatives of a victim of the car bomb attack react at a hospital in Kufa, southern Iraq, Tuesday, May 8, 2007.

      Relatives of a victim of the car bomb attack react at a hospital in Kufa, southern Iraq, Tuesday, May 8, 2007.  (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)

    • Residents and Iraqi soldiers search through the rubble of a shop following a car bomb blast in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 7, 2007.

      Residents and Iraqi soldiers search through the rubble of a shop following a car bomb blast in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, May 7, 2007.  (AP Photo)

    • An Iraqi policeman mourns as he takes part in the funeral procession for Iraqi police Col. Jalil Nahi Hasoun in Baghdad on May 7, 2007. Jalil Nahi Hasoun, the police chief of Samarra, north of Baghdad, was killed in a suicide car bomb attack the previous day.

      An Iraqi policeman mourns as he takes part in the funeral procession for Iraqi police Col. Jalil Nahi Hasoun in Baghdad on May 7, 2007. Jalil Nahi Hasoun, the police chief of Samarra, north of Baghdad, was killed in a suicide car bomb attack the previous day.  (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

    • Residents gather at the scene of a car bomb blast in Baghdad on May 6, 2007.

      Residents gather at the scene of a car bomb blast in Baghdad on May 6, 2007.  (AP)

    Previous slide Next slide
  • Interactive Battle For Iraq

    The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.

  • Interactive The Fundamentals Of Islam

    Learn about the Muslim religion and find out where the largest Muslim populations live in the U.S. and around the world.

(CBS/AP)  A suicide car bomber tore through a busy market in the Shiite holy city of Kufa on Tuesday morning, killing at least 16 people and wounding 70 in an attack sure to further enflame tensions between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite populations.

In response, local authorities closed the entrances to Kufa and its sister holy city of Najaf and imposed a vehicle ban around the revered shrines and mosques in the two towns, said Ahmed Duaible, a local government spokesman.

The suicide attack came a day after Iraq's Sunni vice president threatened to leave the Shiite-dominated government unless key unspecified amendments to the constitution were made by May 15 — a move that would plunge Iraq into a political crisis.

Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi made the threat to lead a Sunni walkout from the Cabinet and parliament in an interview with CNN. He also said he turned down an offer by President Bush to visit Washington until he can count more fully on U.S. help, CNN said on its Web site.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, said al-Hashemi did not mention the threat in a meeting late Monday, and Ali Baban, the Sunni planning minister, said Tuesday the Sunni bloc had no plans to quit the government.

Al-Hashemi called his meeting with al-Maliki an effort to "melt the ice" and seemed to back away from the threat.

"I can say that we can, God willing, build an ambitious future based on a real partnership and joint understanding. And I think it is very important to go ahead with the political project," he told reporters.

Ali al-Dabbagh, al-Maliki's spokesman, said the parliamentary committee on amending the constitution was scheduled to present its recommendations on May 15 and should be given a chance to work. "There should be a dialogue, not threats. No political endeavor can succeed with threats," he said Tuesday.

In other developments:

  • U.S. military commanders acknowledge that militants of the Mahdi Army — a group America considers a security threat in Iraq — have been quietly allowed to patrol key sites around the country. The mosque of Imam Kadhim, the most revered Shiite shrine in Baghdad is a tempting target for Sunni insurgents. To protect it, Iraqi and U.S. troops rely on the Mahdi Army.

  • Suicide bombers killed 13 people in a pair of attacks around the Sunni Arab city of Ramadi in what local officials said was part of a power struggle between al Qaeda and tribes that have broken with the terror network. In all, at least 68 people were killed or found dead nationwide Monday, police said.

  • Sen. Trent Lott, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, has joined an increasing number of key GOP figures who want to see evidence by this fall that Mr. Bush's plan in Iraq is working. Lott didn't say what the consequences might be otherwise.

  • The London-based international humanitarian group Save the Children has found that the child survival rate in Iraq is dropping faster than anywhere else in the world. Gains in child survival were being reversed in the world's poorest countries, most in Africa. The group used data from 1990 to 2005 to compile its findings for a publication released Tuesday.

  • President Bush has been discussing security issues with Iraq's prime minister. Mr. Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki spoke by video conference call Monday. A statement released by the prime minister's office says al-Maliki told Mr. Bush that it's important to maintain cooperation between U.S. and Iraqi forces in efforts to crackdown on sectarian violence.

    The 550-pound car bomb at Kufa exploded in an area that also included a school and the mayor's office, police said. The 16 killed included women and children, said Salim Naima, spokesman of the Najaf health department.

    "It was a huge explosion, its force threw me a few meters away from my wife," said Hussein Abid Matrod, a 38-year old taxi driver who was shopping with his wife and suffered shrapnel wounds to his back and legs. "I saw many people on the ground as smoke mixed with dust, and the smell of the gunpowder was everywhere."

    Panicked people ran through the corridors searching for their relatives at the Furat al-Awsat hospital in nearby Najaf. Women in black abayas, traditional Islamic cloaks, pounded their chests and faces in grief.

    "We are poor people looking for anything to secure our livelihood and we have nothing to do with politics. Why do they do this to us?" asked Firas Abdul-Karim, a 23-year-old day laborer who was wounded in the blast.

    Continued



    © MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
    Share:
    • Share
    • Yahoo! Buzz
    • Mixx
    Add a Comment See all 55 Comments
    by lars008-2009 May 8, 2007 6:57 PM EDT
    USA's PLEDGE 2 THE WORLD GIVEN BY JFK!!

    "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
    --John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961 "

    "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." --John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961 "

    One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Winston Churchill

    Edmund Burke: All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.
    Reply to this comment
    by lars008-2009 May 8, 2007 6:49 PM EDT
    Franklin D. Roosevelt's Infamy Speech
    December 8, 1941/September 12, 2001
    The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

    As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

    Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

    I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

    Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

    With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounded determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.
    Reply to this comment
    by imlibertaria May 8, 2007 6:31 PM EDT
    "Marriage is about children not lovers. It is the backbone of society and the building block of society. It's about children. And by the way you can live with anyone you want, but marriage is not a right."

    In that case, if you follow that logic, any male/female couple who is married and does not have children or cannot have children should be banned from marriage as well. If marraige is only about procreation, then IF you have no children you must not be married.
    Reply to this comment
    by lars008-2009 May 8, 2007 5:48 PM EDT
    The quote of Manuel II "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

    Doctrina Jacobi
    Prophets don't come with sword and chariot.
    http://www.livius.org/men-mh/messiah/messiah_med01.html
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrina_Iacobi

    Antic
    hrist
    In the Book of Daniel the evil one is a military leader modeled on Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who persecuted the Jews.
    http://www.answers.com/topic/antichrist
    Daniel
    Daniel recorded his visions (which became prophecies) for future as well as present use; including prophecies about the exact date of the coming of the Jewish Messiah into Jerusalem,
    http://www.answers.com/topic/daniel-
    Reply to this comment
    by j-whitman May 8, 2007 5:31 PM EDT
    mudrose,,,, It happened & was alarmist reaction carried over from Hoover's blacklisting in the 1950's.
    Yes, I was here in the 60's,, the FBI wasn't watching me,, They cleared me for Top Secret when I enlisted.....
    Reply to this comment
    by lars008-2009 May 8, 2007 5:26 PM EDT
    if it is ok for fascist nazi islamic muslims to kill all non muslims everywhere.... is it ok for the non muslims to kill all fascist nazi islamic muslims???

    Wouldn't killing 5.1 BILLION people (the number of non muslims in the world) be the very definition of barbarism???
    Or is it fascist nazi islam%u2019s way of solving global warming???

    Switching Sides: Inside The Enemy Camp
    But then in 2000, well before his arrest, something happened which would make Abas question everything he believed in: a fatwa, a religious edict, was issued by Osama bin Laden.

    "It should be understood that killing Americans and Jews anywhere found are the highest act of worship and the highest form of good deeds in the eyes of Allah," Simon quotes bin Laden.

    Abas and his fellow commanders were ordered to read the fatwa to their men and make sure they carried it out. The others obeyed, but Abas refused. It was his moment of truth. He firmly believed that jihad was to be fought only on the battlefield in defense of Islam; he had always been taught that the killing of civilians had nothing to do with holy war and that it was forbidden.

    The fatwa justified killing non-Muslim civilians everywhere.
    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/04/60minutes/main2761108.shtml?source=RSSattr=60Minutes_2761108
    Reply to this comment
    by j-whitman May 8, 2007 5:22 PM EDT
    mudrose,,,, It happened & was alarmist reaction carried over from Hoover's blacklisting in the 1950's.
    Yes, I was here in the 60's,, the FBI wasn't watching me,, They cleared me for Top Secret when I enlisted.....
    Reply to this comment
    by j-whitman May 8, 2007 5:18 PM EDT
    mudrose,,,, It happened & was alarmist reaction carried over from Hoover's blacklisting in the 1950's.
    Yes, I was here in the 60's,, the FBI wasn't watching me,, They cleared me for Top Secret when I enlisted.....
    Reply to this comment
    by lars008-2009 May 8, 2007 5:13 PM EDT
    this is the nut that started it all... hahahaha

    the religion of peace... hahahahaha

    the war muhammad started against all non muslims rages on 1400 years later...
    623 - Battle of Waddan
    623 - Battle of Safwan
    623 - Battle of Dul-'Ashir
    624 - Muhammad and converts begin raids on caravans to fund the movement.
    624 - Zakat becomes mandatory
    624 - Battle of Badr
    624 - Battle of Bani Salim
    624 - Battle of Eid-ul-Fitr and Zakat-ul-Fitr
    624 - Battle of Bani Qainuqa'
    624 - Battle of Sawiq
    624 - Battle of Ghatfan
    624 - Battle of Bahran
    625 - Battle of Uhud. 70 Muslims are killed.
    625 - Battle of Humra-ul-Asad
    625 - Battle of Banu Nudair
    625 - Battle of Dhatur-Riqa
    626 - Battle of Badru-Ukhra
    626 - Battle of Dumatul-Jandal
    626 - Battle of Banu Mustalaq Nikah
    627 - Battle of the Trench
    627 - Battle of Ahzab
    627 - Battle of Bani Quraiza
    627 - Battle of Bani Lahyan
    627 - Battle of Ghaiba
    627 - Battle of Khaibar
    628 - Muhammad signs treaty with Quraish.
    630 - Muhammad conquers Mecca.
    630 - Battle of Hunsin.
    630 - Battle of Tabuk
    632 - Muhammad dies.
    http://www.carm.org/islam/islam_chronology.htm
    Reply to this comment
    by mudrose-2009 May 8, 2007 5:10 PM EDT
    mudrose,,,, You are not paying attention to the news much are you ??? --- The dishonorable GOP is still trying to pass legislation that will relax restraints on domestic wire-tapping...
    Posted by j-whitman

    You obviously weren't around in the 60s when the FBI kept tabs on people just like you. But you are a nuclear physicist, right? And as far as watching the news, why don't you try reading the Wall Street Journal or some reputable newspaper for a change.
    Reply to this comment
    See all 55 Comments
    • MOST POPULAR
    Discussed
    1. Tempers Flare In Climate Change Flap

      (713 recent comments)

    Latest News
    News in Pictures
    Scroll Left Scroll Right
    Connect with CBS News

    Stay connected with the CBS News using your favorite social networks and online news applications: