Suicide Bomber Kills 25 Near Baghdad

29 Others Wounded; Alleged Al Qaeda Figure Arrested

(AP)  A suicide bomber blew himself up Sunday in the midst of a celebration to welcome home an Iraqi detainee released from U.S. custody, killing at least 25 people, Iraqi officials said.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, announced the arrest of an al Qaeda in Iraq figure who allegedly planned the 2006 kidnapping of American journalist Jill Carroll - one of the highest-profile attacks against Westerners in Iraq.

The suicide attack occurred inside one of several tents set up outside a house in the Abu Ghraib area on Baghdad's western outskirts, according to residents and police. It was unclear if the former detainee was among the casualties.

A woman who was wounded but declined to give her name for security reasons said she was preparing food behind the tents when the blast occurred at about 9 p.m., knocking her and her three young children off their feet.

Residents and police said Ayyid Salim al-Zubaie, a local sheik in the mainly Sunni area, had invited dozens of guests to a banquet in honor of his son, who was released earlier in the day from Camp Bucca in southern Iraq.

Residents said the detainee-son had quarreled with al Qaeda members while in detention and may have been the target of the attack.

The guests also included several members of the local awakening council, a U.S.-allied group that has turned against al Qaeda.

Yassir al-Jumaili, a doctor at the hospital in nearby Fallujah where most of the wounded were taken, gave the death toll as 25 and said at least 29 other people were wounded.

The blast was a grim reminder of the dangers still facing Iraqis despite a sharp decrease in violence after the 2007 U.S. troop buildup, a Sunni decision to join forces with the Americans against al Qaeda and a Shiite militia cease-fire.

The announcement of the arrest of Salim Abdullah Ashur al-Shujayri, also known as Abu Othman, was a major breakthrough in a series of kidnappings.

He was captured Aug. 11 in Baghdad and accused of being "the planner behind the kidnapping" of Carroll, a Christian Science Monitor reporter who was seized Jan. 7, 2006 and released three months later, according to the military.

The statement also said al-Shujayri's associates were involved in the kidnappings of Christian peace activists and British aid worker Margaret Hassan, but did not elaborate.

Kidnappings of Westerners forced foreigners to flee Iraq or take refuge in heavily guarded compounds, diminishing the ability of aid groups and journalists to operate. Many of the victims were butchered and their deaths recorded on videotapes distributed to Arab satellite TV stations or posted on the Web.

Hassan, 59, the director of CARE international in Iraq, was abducted in Baghdad in October 2004 and shown on a video pleading for her life, calling on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to withdraw troops from Iraq.

She was killed a month later, but her body was never found. The case drew special attention because Hassan, who was married to an Iraqi, had lived in the country for 30 years and spent nearly half her life helping Iraqis.

Four men from the Chicago-based group, Christian Peacemaker Teams, disappeared Nov. 26, 2005, in Baghdad and videotapes later showed them in captivity. One of the hostages, American Tom Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, Va., was found shot dead. The other three - two Canadians and a Briton - were later rescued.

Carroll was seized in west Baghdad and her interpreter was killed. The kidnappers, a formerly unknown group calling itself the Revenge Brigade, demanded the release of all women detainees in Iraq. U.S. officials freed some female detainees but said the decision was unrelated to the demands.

The statement said U.S. troops also captured another al Qaeda figure - Ali Rash Nasir Jiyad al-Shammari - on Aug. 17 in Baghdad. He was accused of being a senior adviser for the terror network and funneling money, weapons and explosives to insurgents in the capital "during its most active operational period in early 2007," the military said.

Al-Shammari, also known as Abu Tiba, personally approved targets for car and suicide bombings targeting Iraqi civilians, the military said.

The military statement said al Qaeda in Iraq conducted almost 300 bombings, killing more than 1,500 civilians and wounding more than twice that many in 2007, compared with 28 attacks that killed 125 Iraqi civilians in the first half of this year.

"The capture of Abu Tiba and Abu Othman eliminates two of the few remaining experienced leaders in the AQI network," said military spokesman Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll.

Also Sunday, the U.S. military said a 13-year-old girl wearing a bomb-laden vest surrendered to Iraqi police in Baqouba rather than blow herself up. She led police to a second suicide vest and was detained, the military said.

Women have increasingly been recruited by insurgents to carry out attacks because it's easier for them to evade security checks.

[antoniof123]

Now I know why I hate all religion they are false and when God comes back I hope he lets me watch their destruction.

Pray for peace as long as it is your way. Sounds just like all religions are worthless man God is going to have a field day with you morons.

[downtowner97]

I am on a new personal crusade. Many Christians feel that Muslims need to be exterminated. They think Muslims are weird because they kneel and hit their heads on the ground when they pray. Christians have been praying wrong as long as I can remember.

Jesus told us how to pray in Matthew 6:6 "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."

If Muslims knew Christians didn''t even know how they were supposed to pray, they''d die laughing at us.

[downtowner97]

We need Saddam back.

[juwboy]

Why do these turkeys want 72 VIRGINS, anyway?

Surely, 72 hot, *****, experienced babes would givethem a much better time!

[oneworldusa]

The only answer is to blow up the suicide bomber network. Martyr them all.

[airboatboy]

That celebration ended with a bang, didn''t it?

[apprxam]

Four more year of McBush is around the corner. How much more will gas prices climb and troops blown up before this cr-ap ends?

[apprxam]

That''s right, the surge and democracy is working in Iraq. Why won''t Obama and the rest of America see that?

[lambor59]

QUOTE OF THE DAY.
25 killed is nothing compared to the thousands that died in US bombings, christianity, such a peaceful religion.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by andrew_693

[lambor59]

The explosion looked more like Bush''s cruise missile but reported as suicide bomber, we believe nothing coming from Bush news networks.

[trrrorislam3]

the ENDLESS UNWINNABLE war Muhammad ali baba started 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

[garbagestopr]

25 killed is nothing compared to the thousands that died in US bombings, christianity, such a peaceful religion.
Posted by andrew_693

You are truly an idiot. And most likely a Muslim or an atheist. You both hate Christians and Jews.

What a moron you are. Wow.

[andrew_693]

25 killed is nothing compared to the thousands that died in US bombings, christianity, such a peaceful religion.

[andrew_693]

I guess this is what we call a republican success.Suicide bombers, death, destruction and Macshame promises more of the same. What a waste of human lives and they call themselves the party of life.

[hermitdave]

Anyone who read my article on the day Bush started his Iraq crusade would not be surprised. I said this would make Americans the same as the PALS and Jews. Bush got us into the world of humans blowing up humans. Of course he did it for a good reason, cheaper gas.

[garbagestopr]

Straight to Hades went this evil suicide bomber....

[garbagestopr]

Such a peaceful religion Islam is....

[timdgrim]

Real Presidential when you think you have to respond to Madonna. Funny stuff.

Posted by Smirk5
*********
Look out Madonna, ExxonMcCain will be sending Toby ''I can''t sing worth a Sh*t" Keith to put a boot in you A**!

[trrrorislam3]

Posted by underdogus87 at 08:52 PM : Aug 24, 2008

ummmm nancy,,, chavez is venezuela,,,

[smirk5]

" DENVER, COLORADO (AFP) - John McCain''s campaign hit back at Madonna on Sunday after the pop diva kicked off her world tour with a concert that bracketed the US presidential candidate with Adolf Hitler.
ADVERTISEMENT

McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds angrily condemned the segment of Madonna''s concert in Cardiff on Saturday that appeared to draw a comparison between McCain, Hitler and Zimbabwean strongman Robert Mugabe.

"The comparisons are outrageous, unacceptable and crudely divisive all at the same time," Bounds said in a statement reported by Fox News."

Real Presidential when you think you have to respond to Madonna. Funny stuff.