Female Suicide Bomber Kills 40 In Iraq

Victims Are Mostly Women And Children In Third-Straight Day Of Attacks Targeting Shiites

(AP)  A female suicide bomber Friday struck a tent filled with women and children resting during a Shiite pilgrimage south of Baghdad, killing 40 people and wounding about 80 in the deadliest of three straight days of attacks against Shiite worshippers.

The horrific assault - which appeared to be the deadliest in Iraq this year - demonstrates the determination of some extremists to re-ignite sectarian warfare and underscores how fragile security remains here, even as the U.S. turns over more responsibility to the Iraqis.

No group claimed responsibility for Friday's blast, but suicide bombings against Shiite civilians are the signature attack of al Qaeda in Iraq, which U.S. commanders say has been severely weakened but not defeated.

The attack occurred despite a massive security operation mounted by Iraqi authorities to protect the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims streaming into the Shiite holy city of Karbala for religious rituals that culminate Monday.

But the vast numbers of pilgrims and the distances many of them must travel make it all but impossible to guarantee their safety against determined extremist groups willing to die.

The blast occurred at midday along a dusty stretch of road flanked by palm trees alongside a railroad track near Musayyib, about 40 miles south of Baghdad.

Along the routes to Karbala, separate tents for men and women have been set up to offer pilgrims food, drink and a place to rest.

A procession leader, Mussa al-Kadhem, said he was drinking tea with a group of men when he noticed a "suspicious-looking woman" dressed in a full-body black abaya robe and with her face covered wander into the women's tent.

"As soon as some people asked who she was ... there was a huge explosion," he said.

Provincial health official Dr. Mohammed Abbas and the provincial police reported 40 people were killed and 81 wounded. Abbas said most of the victims were women and children.

Casualty figures in Iraq often fluctuate but if the tally stands, it would be the deadliest attack in the country since a suicide bomber killed 36 people Jan. 4 at a Shiite shrine in Baghdad.

Associated Press Television News video showed piles of clothing, small rugs and toddlers' strollers littering Friday's blast site. A dismembered leg believed to have been the bomber's lay wrapped in an abaya in a cardboard box.

The attack occurred one day after a suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt packed with nails and killed eight people and wounded more than 50 in Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad.

On Wednesday, at least 12 people were killed and more than 40 wounded in a series of bombings in Baghdad targeting Shiite pilgrims traveling through the capital to Karbala.

Hours after the Friday attack, pilgrims mingled aimlessly around the site, many of them still dazed from the carnage.

One man who refused to give his name held his dazed and injured son, who was wrapped in a red and yellow blanket.

"What is my son's fault? What did he do? What kind of belief system do these people have? Are they monsters?" he shouted.

Witnesses said many of the injured were hurt in a stampede as terrified survivors, many of them poor Shiites exhausted after days of walking, scrambled away from the scene in terror.

"It was a horrific scene with dead and screaming injured people on the ground," said Sadiya Kadom, 40, a Baghdad resident who was near the tent when the blast occurred.

Hussein Faris, 39, said he was injured in the stomach but his wife, who was walking behind him closer to the tent, was killed.

"I was so terrified. People nearby were running in terror, and many got hurt in the stampede," he said at a hospital in nearby Hillah.

U.S. officials have said violence has dropped by nearly 90 percent since the bloodiest days of 2006 and 2007, when Shiite-Sunni fighting pushed the country to the brink of all-out sectarian civil war.

Last month's provincial elections, which were held without major violence, encouraged many Iraqis that the country was on the path to stability - which would allow the U.S. to withdraw its 144,000-strong military force.

President Barack Obama, who promised during his campaign to remove all combat troops within 16 months, is studying plans to shift military resources from Iraq to Afghanistan, where a resurgent Taliban and al Qaeda have threatened the U.S.-backed government.

But U.S. commanders have repeatedly warned that security in Iraq remains fragile because al Qaeda and other groups have not been completely defeated. Iraq's major religious and ethnic groups have not reached power-sharing agreements to ensure a lasting peace.

Even though violence has fallen off, the number of female suicide bombers in Iraq has been growing. Last year, they attempted or successfully carried out 32 attacks, compared with eight in 2007, according to U.S. military figures.

Iraqi authorities lack enough female police to search most women at sensitive sites. Women's loose-fitting garments make it easier to conceal explosives.

Last month, police arrested a middle-aged woman, Samira Ahmed Jassim, for allegedly recruiting female suicide bombers. She told The Associated Press in a prison interview of a plot in which young women were raped and then persuaded to carry out suicide attacks to reclaim their honor.

Last March, a female suicide bomber attacked Shiite worshippers in Karbala, killing at least 49. At least 85 people died in a suicide bombing in Karbala in March 2004.

Pilgrims will be celebrating Monday's end of 40 days of mourning that follow Ashoura, the anniversary of the seventh-century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein.

He was killed in a battle near Karbala for the leadership of the nascent Muslim nation following Muhammad's death in 632. His death contributed to the split between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

[mtminds]

The Mideastern version of Fem Fatale.

[trapbreaker]

What is the right way to deal with Muslim terrorist in southern Philippines, southern Thailand, Kenya, India, Pakistan, Semolina, Ethiopia, Iraq, Palestine, Russia, Afghanistan, China, and the 30 countries elsewhere where Muslim terrorist are killing? If they can%u2019t kill Jews, or Hindus, or Brits, or Americans, or the government forces of the counties they live in, then they will just kill each other, like the Sunni woman who suicide bombed and killed about 40 women and children Shiite pilgrims.

Jihadi terrorist violence goes by many names, but it is all terrorism and murder by any name. They call themselves Hamas or Islamic Jihad, or Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in Palestine , Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM); in Pakistan, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI) in Bangladesh, Taliban-HEI-Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Hezbollah in Lebanon, there are many more, they have different names in different places in the world, but you must understand that Jihadi terrorists recognize no honor, no agreements, only murder.

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by rm090213 at 08:27 AM : Feb 14, 2009




Really tripped your trigger there, didn''t I. apparently you are having a bad day posting. We''ll try again later.

[krescera]

If a U.S bomb kills Muslim women and kids ,it is devastating world news.But if a Muslim suicide bomber kills Muslim women and kids,it is just an inter-faith incident.

[rm090213]

you should know I have a huge sense of humor, but little tolerance for foolish or pointless dialogue. Posted by ToolMangler at 08:10 PM : Feb 13, 2009

I apologize once again.

Now I see, you are not humor impaired.

You positively adore humor, but only if it''s YOURS.

Sorry, sorry, and sorry again. A thousand times sorry your highness of humor who has no tolerance for the humor of others.

[rm090213]

why are we in this country again? WMDs or some such baloney?
Posted by mainedoggie at 08:35 PM : Feb 13, 2009

DO NOT BAIT ME into posting the same FACTS over and over again.

Every time I post the DOCUMENTED, VERIFIABLE, AND VERY PUBLICLY KNOWN FACTS on this issue,

all my posts get deleted

my login name gets disabled

Do not expect me to keep doing that

DEMOCRATS ARE ALLERGIC TO FACTS

Oh I''ll probably get banished just for posting THAT.

HELLO CENSORSHIP

FREEDOM OF SPEECH HAS VANISHED, JUST AS THE DEMOCRATS CAME TO TOWN IN WDC

[rm090213]

I am still baffled as to why we didn''''t bomb-the-fvck out of Saudi Arabia. Instead Bush and all of his thug PNAC cronies are in the back alley gettin'''' high and holding hands with the Saudis.
Posted by mainedoggie at 08:35 PM : Feb 13, 2009

Gosh you''re right. Bush was such a criminal.

When do you think Obama will start this long overdue attack on Saudi Arabia???

[patriotic9]

I am still baffled as to why we didn''t bomb-the-fvck out of Saudi Arabia. Instead Bush and all of his thug PNAC cronies are in the back alley gettin'''''''' high and holding hands with the Saudis.

Why should we have bombed Saudi Arabia?
For giving us oil in cheaper prices!
Saudis give us oil in cheap price and in return, psychotic christians in the United States decided to support those enemies of Saudis who were brought into Palestine after WWII to occupy the land of those Palestinians by force who can''t even speak the language spoken by hitler.
Who in his right mind can blame Saudis for attacking America, because of her support to the existance of Israel on Palestinian soil, far away from the Concentration Camps in Germany.

[babooph]

Guess she did not hear how "wonderful" things are there-I still remember Rumsfeld telling us that many years ago.

[trapbreaker]

How about the ********* who runs the 700 club eh?
Kooks. - Posted by mainedoggie

Kooks perhaps, but they don''t kill/bomb/cut off heads.

[mainedoggie]

====================
This is why Islam is has been corrupted by Satan because only the devils would create a belief system like this that kill people for just being different and causing people to kill other by raping them. It is time for people to stand up for what is right and stomp on the cockroaches

Posted by DSjones26
======================


Hmm... are your sure it''s just Islam?

Are you sure it''s not Christianity and the 700 club as well? How about the ********* who runs the 700 club eh?

Kooks.

[dsjones26]

This is why Islam is has been corrupted by Satan because only the devils would create a belief system like this that kill people for just being different and causing people to kill other by raping them. It is time for people to stand up for what is right and stomp on the cockroaches

[mainedoggie]

The horrific assault - which appeared to be the deadliest in Iraq this year - demonstrates the determination of some extremists to re-ignite sectarian warfare and underscores how fragile security remains here, even as the U.S. turns over more responsibility to the Iraqis.


Surge is working. I''m sorry... why are we in this country again? WMDs or some such baloney?

Where is Saudi Arabia, the country that masterminded and funded what happened on 9/11 in all of this?

Answer? PNAC

I am still baffled as to why we didn''t bomb-the-fvck out of Saudi Arabia. Instead Bush and all of his thug PNAC cronies are in the back alley gettin'' high and holding hands with the Saudis.

NEXT!

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by rm090213 at 08:01 PM : Feb 13, 2009




If you have read my posting over the last four years on CBS you should know I have a huge sense of humor, but little tolerance for foolish or pointless dialogue. I am totally against Church run States. Religion is a personal choice and should not be a National mandate.

[rm090213]

Re-read my post and tell me "WHERE" I forced anything on you!!!
Posted by ToolMangler at 06:38 PM : Feb 13, 2009

Sorry, I didn''t know you were humor impaired.

I was trying to point out that Muslims seem to operate on different principles that we can not understand.

I have a feeling that just pleading for peace and love won''t work.

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by rm090213 at 06:13 PM : Feb 13, 2009




Re-read my post and tell me "WHERE" I forced anything on you!!! I voiced "MY'' opinion of the situation, nothing else. I spoke of how I would react to my Church condoning the killing. I also included my reaction if I held other belief system values. As "you" can see I speak "MY" feelings not what you should feel. So ''Shut up'' and give me the apology ''I'' should get from you.

(the preceding message was brought to you by the Sarcastic Group, and it may not necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors, who are not responsible for its content.)
Pay attention to your own words...

[rm090213]

This will cause me to be called a fool! Well "So be it".

Posted by ToolMangler at 06:07 PM : Feb 13, 2009

Stop trying to force your narrow religious prejudices on the rest of the world.

Don''t you know how you offend Muslims with your tiresome preaching for peace and love?

Now they have no choice but to attack all non-Muslims until they are all dead. And it''s all YOUR fault for trying to force your peace and love on them.

(the preceding message was brought to you by the Sarcastic Group, and it may not necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors, who are not responsible for its content.)

[toolmangler-2009]

I am a Christian, but if I were a Muslim, Hari Krishna, Bhuddist, Jew, Hindu or Atheist, My viewpoint would be the same. To kill in the name of religion or politics is the direct fault of the Priesthood or Government leaders. If I were to hear of my church leaders supporting suicide bombers, I would denounce them from the most public forum I could find. If they took offence and tried to kill me (it might be hard to do) I would tell them to their faces that I had nothing but contempt for them because they had used My GOD to harm other people. This will cause me to be called a fool! Well "So be it".

[rm090213]

raqis seem to know who the "enemy" is, how come U.S. liberals don''''t?
Posted by promaclaura at 03:51 PM : Feb 13, 2009

Careful you''ll get your posts deleted for saying things like that.

At this point, I''m going through a login name PER DAY.

[rm090213]

To kill without risk; THAT is the very definition of COURAGE!!
Posted by Evian_Ycnan at 02:28 PM : Feb 13, 2009

You mean like Clinton did with his MANY airstrikes, every time his popularity polls were sagging.

INCLUDING the one on Iraq when he was facing impeachment.