BAGHDAD, Jan. 23, 2008
Blasts In Northern Iraq Kill At Least 22
At Least 17 Dead And Scores Wounded In Mosul Explosion; Suicide Bomb Kills 5 Near Kirkuk
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An Iraqi woman gestures as she reacts to her plight after waiting in a queue to buy petrol for three days, with others to fill up her containers with petrol for heating, in the center of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)
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U.S. Army soldiers from Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment set out to search Arab Jabour during Operation Coliseum south of Baghdad, Iraq on Monday, Jan. 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
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Photo Essay Week In Iraq Photos A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
Rescue crews were searching late into the night for victims under the debris of collapsed homes from the thunderous 4:30 p.m. explosion. Police said injured people were trapped under the collapsed ceilings and walls of their homes.
The blasts reinforced U.S. claims this week that Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, is the only major Iraqi city with a strong al Qaeda presence. American and Iraqi forces have been on the offensive against the terror group in and around Baghdad, but Mosul continues to be a center of gravity for al Qaeda in Iraq, according to the military.
Iraq's third largest city, a major transportation hub with highways leading west to Syria and south to Baghdad, is the main conduit in the flow of blood money and foreign fighters.
Mosul's disaffected populations also provide fertile ground for al Qaeda among fellow Sunni Arabs. The terror group is apparently seeking to exploit ethnic tension between majority Sunnis and minority Kurds, who together form about 85 percent of the city's population of roughly 2 million.
Wednesday's explosion, in a Sunni neighborhood in western Mosul, came shortly after the army received calls that insurgents were using the vacant building as a shelter and a bomb-making factory, according to Brig. Saeed al-Jubouri, a police spokesman.
That raised the possibility that the terror group may have soldiers into a trap.
However, Brig. Abdul-Karim al-Jubouri, who heads security operations for the Mosul police, said authorities did not believe that was the case. He said that if it were a trap, insurgents would have waited for security forces to get inside the building to kill as many of them as possible. The bombs went off just after the army arrived, and no soldier was known to have been killed.
Also, he said, insurgents usually warn nearby residents to leave before a bombing. On Wednesday, they did not.
"The insurgents used the building to store weapons and bombs, and it seems they blew up the building after learning that Iraqi soldiers had discovered their plans," Abdul-Karim al-Jubouri said.
The bombings collapsed the three-story building and damaged dozens of old houses in the area, according to Saeed al-Jubouri. He said 17 civilians were killed and 134 injured.
One of the injured, 25-year-old Um Mohammed, was making dinner for her family.
"Everything on the kitchen shelves fell on me, and I started to scream for help until my husband came and took me to the hospital," she said while being treated for wounds to her head, legs and left hand.
Her husband, 32-year-old taxi driver Abu Mohammed, escaped with only minor injuries to his hands.
"I was standing near my house behind the exploded building when a very loud blast took place, and the smoke covered the whole area," he said. "I was confused and went inside my house to search for my wife. Everything in the house was turned upside down. I saw my wife lying on the ground and I carried her to my car and headed to the hospital. What has happened is a disaster."
Attacks have persisted in recent months in northern Iraq even as violence has declined in Baghdad and other areas.
In a separate incident, a suicide car bomber targeted a police convoy near the northern city of Kirkuk, killing at least five civilians and wounding 11, police said.
In the capital, Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on Iraqi soldiers resting on the side of a highway, killing three and wounding at least one, according to police and the U.S. military. The attack in the heart of Baghdad provided a deadly example of the stark challenges facing the Iraqi forces as they work to take over their own security so U.S.-led troops can eventually go home.
Five militant Iraqi Sunni groups said in a joint statement posted on the Internet that they were stepping up attacks on American troops in Iraq in support of Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The statement announced the launching of what was described as the "Iraqi Resistance Campaign to Help Gaza" and accused U.S. President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of responsibility for the deteriorating situation in the coastal strip.
It described the American and Israeli leader as "war criminals," saying they sought to "cover up their dreadful failures in all fields." It did not provide details of the planned attacks on U.S. troops.
In another development, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accepted an invitation to visit Iraq, but no date has been set, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry announced. It would be the first visit to Iraq by a top Iranian leader since the Islamic revolution of 1979.
Iran had no immediate word on the visit.
The two Muslim neighbors fought a ruinous eight-year war in the 1980s that left an estimated 1 million people killed or wounded. Relations have improved since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led regime.
In other developments in Iraq:
The measure calls for removing the three green stars that are thought to symbolize Saddam's now-dissolved Baath Party's objectives of unity, freedom and socialism and changing the calligraphy of the words "Allahu Akbar," or God is Great, in a symbolic break with the past.
The decision - which was approved by a show of hands, with 110 lawmakers of 165 present voting in favor - is temporary. A law to establish a new banner must be passed in one year.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 123 Comments
- Yeah the FLAG issue that is what the politicians in Baghdad have been able to address. Am I the only one shocked out of my comfortable seat that these FOOLS are wasting time with that *** I do see the D.C. reflection
- Reply to this comment
- Try and imagine it. You have so little even a shower is a luxury. You''re serving up your bland *** supper of who knows what that you''re truly thankful receiving. Its dry, arid, MISERABLE, and of course HOME. And some nut detonates a *** bomb next to your mud house. ***
- Reply to this comment
- Gee - I''m waiting to hear your lame answers...
What''s the matter - are you STUNNED that the President is innocent ? Or, are you still trying to come up with a lame-brain answer to protect your LIES!!!!
COME ON -WE''RE WAITING A-HOLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Reply to this comment
- QUESTION FOR THE FAR LEFT ON THE SITE:
IF BUSH LIED TO GET US INTO IRAQ, AS SOROS WOULD HAVE US ALL BELIEVE -
WHY DIDN''T HE PALNT A WMD TO VINDICATE HIMSELF ?????
Uh, don''t look now, but I believe that is more than reasonable doubt if you can''t give a good reason.
Gee, did the far left house of cards just fall flat ? - Reply to this comment
- CBS:
Why no news of the Center for Public Integrity report exhaustively documenting 935 falsehoods Bush and his cronies told in the lead-up to and surrounding the start of Iraq war? Wa Post and ABC are covering it.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard
A lot of people here are talking about holding Bush/Cheney accountable for treasonous behavior. I agree.
Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) has gathered around 225K signatures from an online petition asking for congressional hearings into Cheney''s behavior as possible grounds for impeachment. He only needed 50K signatures, but got almost 5X as many as needed. Still, Rep. JOHN CONYERS (D-MI) is chair of the House Judiciary Committee and is holding things up.
Please contact him at either of these 3 locations if you''d like him to proceed:
2426 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5126
(202) 225-0072 Fax
2615 W. Jefferson
Trenton, MI 48183
(734) 675-4084
(734) 675-4218 Fax
669 Federal Building
231 W. Lafayette
Detroit, MI 48226
(313) 961-5670
(313) 226-2085 Fax - Reply to this comment
Re: "Five militant Iraqi Sunni groups said in a joint statement posted on the Internet that they were stepping up attacks on American troops in Iraq in support of Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip."
Whoa there, CBS!
I thought that you were telling us that we were fighting "al-Qaeda-in-Iraq". Where did these 5 Sunni resistance groups come from?
Were you lying to us?- Reply to this comment
Re: "...but Mosul continues to be a center of gravity for al Qaeda in Iraq, according to the military."
Not according to reality, however, since "al-Qaeda-in-Iraq" appears to be little more than a Made-in-U.S.A. ruse.- Reply to this comment
Re: "The measure calls for removing the three green stars that are thought to symbolize Saddam''s now-dissolved Baath Party''s objectives of unity, freedom and socialism and changing the calligraphy of the words "Allahu Akbar," or God is Great, in a symbolic break with the past."
Let me see if I''ve got this straight. The installed Iraqi stooges, posing as the government of Iraq, have opted to eliminate symbololgy of "unity" and "freedom" from their flag, and have decided that God is no longer great?
Good thinking!
This oughtta'' help!
If there wasn''t so much death and misery involved in this debacle, it would be quite amusing!- Reply to this comment
- You people suffer from a disease, a sick and twisted disease of hatred, you really do.
Posted by singinrick at 12:20 AM : Jan 24, 2008
+ report abuse
You suffer from an incurable disease called "stupidity". - Reply to this comment
- "Sure, give the "honorable" suicide bombers a free pass, and just blame it all on George Bush instead.
Posted by singinrick at 12:20 AM : Jan 24, 2008"
Hey Chimp worshipper, if you can''t blame Bush who are you going to blame, well actually, you can blame yourself and millions more like you, for supporting a moron. "Iraq has WMDs", "Bring it on" and "Mission Accomplished" repeat the mantra over and over again till you puke and maybe your delusions more become even more real for you. - Reply to this comment
- Bush has the blood of another 22 souls on his hands. How many are we up to now?
- Reply to this comment
- Can I clip your polyps again...although I would like to miss. :-
- Reply to this comment
- Future historians will no doubt disregard that during
my presidency, I may have allowed two of America''s
fairly important buildings to be brought down,
as commander-in-chief I won only one half of one war,
one third of another war, tried to start world war 3,
the economy tanked, I told 935 lies, the world''s
people hated me, and they will legacy build on the
positives of my presidency . . . . . . . . . . . .
I had my five polyps clipped. - Reply to this comment
- How much blood will be on the hands of the Fascist and will stain this nation before this thing is over. Some on here seek to blame everyone but the people who are to blame. George W. Bush and D. Cheney LIED and twisted things for no other reason than to start a war. They and they alone have murdered THOUSANDS of American''s and that''s a fact. To start blaming others who are wrestling with how to stop it without harming our troops anymore is to ignore the reality of life. Sieg Heil Bush
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- Posted by samt66 at 05:28 PM : Jan 23, 2008
I agree! - Reply to this comment
- Posted by hillaryin08 at 04:37 PM : Jan 23, 2008
And/or vetoed by the republican God, George W. Bush!!!! - Reply to this comment
- Posted by hillaryin08 at 04:37 PM : Jan 23, 2008
I see you are still in the delusional stage where you blame Congress! You forget that every piece of legislation they''ve promulgated to get our troops out of Iraq was stymied in the Senate by republicans!
Wake up and enter the real world! - Reply to this comment
- Posted by roger_inkart at 05:07 PM : Jan 23, 2008
Well said! - Reply to this comment
- I see the surge is still working!!!
- Reply to this comment
- Don''t totally blame the media. they are at the mercy of the CIA==all this country needs is a backbone to stand up to all facets of this government and let them know--we''ve had enough!
- Reply to this comment
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