Double Bomb Attack Kills 31 In Baghdad

Separate Suicide Blast Kills 5 In Baqouba As Puzzling New Bombings Continue

(CBS/AP)  A suicide bomber struck Monday in a crowd gathered at the site of an explosion that moments earlier had damaged a bus filled with schoolgirls, with both blasts killing at least 31 people and wounding 71 others, authorities said.

Also Monday, a female suicide bomber attacked a security checkpoint in downtown Baqouba, killing five people including a local leader of Sunni group opposed to al Qaeda, police said. Fifteen other people were wounded in that explosion, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

The twin blasts - the deadliest in Baghdad in months - occurred during the morning rush hour in the mostly Shiite Kasrah section of Azamiyah neighborhood in the northern part of the Iraqi capital. They shattered storefronts along a crowded street and set fire to more than a dozen cars.

Police said the first explosion damaged a minibus carrying young girls to school. The second happened when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt in the middle of a crowd that had gathered around the vehicle.

Police officials giving the toll were unclear how many died in each blast.

The Interior Ministry, which controls the police, gave the casualty figure of 31 dead and 71 wounded. A check of four hospitals in the Baghdad area provided the same count.

An Interior Ministry official speculated that extremists may have sought to "send a message" to President-elect Barack Obama about "the real situation in Iraq," pressure the government not to sign a new security agreement with the United States or embarrass the ruling parties ahead of regional elections in January.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was offering speculation.

The blasts shattered storefronts along the crowded street and set more than a dozen cars on fire.

Abbas Fadhil said he was working in a nearby restaurant that was damaged in the blasts.

"I rushed to the site and saw several girl students trapped in a bus and screaming for help. We took the girls outside the bus and rushed them to the hospitals," he said, standing in front of the damaged restaurant - his white shirt soaked with blood.

"This is a criminal act that targeted innocent people who were heading to work and school while the politicians are busy with their personal greed and ambitions," Fadhil said.

Associated Press Television News video showed the minibus pocked with shrapnel marks with the floor soaked in blood. Girls' shoes were scattered about amid the wreckage.

Ahmed Riyadh, 54, owner of a nearby grocery, said called it a "vicious attack" that "did not differentiate between Shiites and Sunnis."

"We are fed up with such attacks and we want only to live in peace," he said. "The politicians should work hard and set aside their differences to stop the bloodshed."

No group claimed responsibility for the blasts, the single deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital in weeks.

But suicide attacks against Shiite civilians are the hallmark of al Qaeda in Iraq, which maintains a limited presence in Baghdad despite military setbacks and the Sunni revolt against the terror movement last year.

U.S. Col. John Hort said the blasts were an "al Qaeda trademark attack of a cowardly nature targeting civilians in Baghdad."

Violence is down significantly in Baghdad since the worst of the Sunni-Shiite fighting in 2006 and 2007.

In recent weeks, however, there appears to have been an uptick in small-scale bombings during the morning rush hour - targeting Iraqi police and army patrols, government officials heading for work or commuters, in an attempt to undermine public confidence.

Bombs killed at least eight people Sunday across Iraq and wounded dozens of others, officials said, as Syria's president blamed Iraq's instability on the U.S. military presence and called on U.S. troops to leave. (Read more.)

While American commanders acknowledge a recent increase in violent incidents in the capital, CBS News Baghdad bureau chief Larry Doyle says they stress the fact that the number of attacks in the past month or so remains far lower than the 100 or more incidents per day being reported a year ago.

Brigadier Gen. Will Grimsley, the U.S. commander in charge of Baghdad, told journalists on Monday, "the attacks are troubling to us," but "the number and severity of attacks is not significantly different" from recent months, which saw an average of 4 daily attacks in Baghdad.

Doyle reports that there seems to be some puzzlement as to who is behind the most recent spate of bombings. Unlike past events, no groups have claimed responsibility for the recent attacks and both Sunni and Shiite areas and populations have been repeatedly targeted.

That trend continued with Monday's blasts in Kasrah, a neighborhood which Doyle reports is home to an ethnically mixed population.

The continuing attacks show the determination of extremist groups to continue the fight against the U.S.-backed government, and they lie behind U.S. military concerns about drawing down the 151,000-member U.S. military force too quickly.

A still un-ratified security agreement with the U.S. would keep American soldiers here through 2011.

President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to withdraw all combat troops within 16 months of taking office Jan. 20, although he has said he would consult with the Iraqi government and U.S. commanders before ordering any drawdown.

[juwboy]

A 13-years-old Somalian girl was gang-raped recently and reported the crime to the local police who made no attempt to apprehend the rapists.

INSTEAD, THEY ACCUSED HER OF ADULTERY.

Yesterday, she was buried up to the neck and stoned by a crowd that had been encouraged to participate in this p-erverted form of Moslem "entertainment" by announcements from speaker vans.

After a few minutes, she was "exhumed" and examined by a nurse who determined she was still alive.

So, she was re-buried up to the neck and the stoning resumed until she was finally put out of her misery.

How much additional evidence for the inhumanity of Islam do we need?

[evian_ycnan]

All the mayhem in the world will cease on January 21 st.

Posted by republic76 at 02:54 AM : Nov 11, 2008

Are you posting from Kabuhl?

[pirmin3]

Gotta luv that surge. Go get ''em GW

[hermitdave]

HEY ERICH!!!! During Saddams control of the country who were his good buddies? YEA--Ronnie and Rummy.

[earache4]

Still amazed at how giddy some Americans are when something goes wrong in Iraq? The clarity of hate with many on this board is what is truly wrong with this country. Perhaps one day people will realize that those same sons and daughters that are fighting may soon be selected by a draft. Then all these COWARDS can go to Canada or Mexico to COWARDLY SLITHER there way out of service.
Posted by ActionNow1 at 11:31 AM

Oil''s well that ends well.....

[downsteamjim]

The practice of sacrificing innocent people has become an essential part of modern Islam.

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by erich_1 at 07:27 PM : Nov 10, 2008



Now, that man knew how to control extremism.

[erich_1-2009]

Iraq During Sadaam

Hussein''s regime killed, tortured, raped and terrorized the Iraqi people and its neighbors for over two decades.
Hundreds of thousands of people died as a result of Saddam''s actions.
Saddam had approximately 40 of his own relatives murdered.
1980-88: Iran-Iraq war left 150,000 to 340,000 Iraqis and 450,000 to 730,000 Iranians dead.
1983-1988: Documented chemical attacks by Iraqi regime caused some 30,000 Iraqi and Iranian deaths.
1988: Chemical attack on Kurdish village of Halabja killed approximately 5,000 people.
1987-1988: Iraqi regime used chemical agents in attacks against at least 40 Kurdish villages.
1990-91: 1,000 Kuwaitis were killed in Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
1991: Bloody suppression of Kurdish and Shi''a uprisings in northern and southern Iraq killed at least 30,000 to 60,000. At least 2,000 Kurdish villages were destroyed during the campaign of terror.

Human Rights Watch: Saddam''s 1987-1988 campaign of terror against the Kurds killed at least 50,000 and possibly as many as 100,000 Kurds.

Refugees International: "Oppressive government policies have led to the internal displacement of 900,000 Iraqis."

Iraq''s 13 million Shiite Muslims, the majority of Iraq''s population of approximately 22 million, faced severe restrictions on their religious practice.

[hermitdave]

It is so disgusting to read in the managed news media these stories as if any of this was just a necessary part of a brave effort by George Bush to save the world. Never any major news source saying the truth. The Iraq crusade was a illegal criminal action for the sole purpose of putting the western oil giants back in Iraq. All those responsible should be put on trial.

[excoachken]

Just part of Bush''s "dirty diaper" that Obama will have to "Change."

[toolmangler-2009]

Now that the fighting is just among the Iraqis, America can go home now. Mission Accomplished.
Posted by mtminds at 04:03 PM : Nov 10, 2008


Not until we find a replacement for Saddam Hussien

[mtminds]

Now shat the Sunni''s are fighting al qaeda, when are the shia''s going to join the party? The shia''s especially those closest to Iran''s theologians, support al qaeda spiritually and physically.

[mtminds]

Now that the fighting is just among the Iraqis, America can go home now. Mission Accomplished.

[evian_ycnan]

The Iraqis just don`t realize how lucky they are that America has freed them from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein and delivered them to the tender mercies of anarchy.

[evian_ycnan]

On the surge and its effects:

Dr. Obama will admit to Dr. McCain that the efforts to stem the inflection in the patient`s severed limb were successful on the same day that Dr. McCain admits he amputated the wrong leg.

[actionnow1]

Still amazed at how giddy some Americans are when something goes wrong in Iraq? The clarity of hate with many on this board is what is truly wrong with this country. Perhaps one day people will realize that those same sons and daughters that are fighting may soon be selected by a draft. Then all these COWARDS can go to Canada or Mexico to COWARDLY SLITHER there way out of service.

[earache4]

Yeah! we''re surgein'' like a surgeon....

[antoniof123]

I would like to start out by thanking the fiscal family value party of god.

You people are dumber than dirt.

How is the search for WMD''s coming. How about bring freedom to the Iraqi''s you remember they were going to welcome us with flowers. Or maybe the democracy thing is it still moving foraward. Well, if this is any indication of what the new conservatives have to offer I am glad I left and just for the record I will never be back.

The surge was great if we only had 1 soldier for every person in Iraq we could truly stop the violence. Keep up the good work neo cons it will soon end.

[hotpaulie]

This is the republican''s version of democracy in action...the successful surge...suicide bombings...

ALL YOU BUSH SUPPORTERS MUST BE SO PROUD OF YOUR LEADER!!!

[mediawatch50]

Ah yes. The sweet smell of "Victory" is remarkably similar to the smell of high explosives and disintegrated human flesh. It''s too bad that we''re bankrupting our own country to give this wonderful "Victory" to the Iraqis. Now that they they have only a one-in-20 chance of being blown up while they''re out shopping, they must be so grateful to us.