Attack In Holy City Of Karbala Kills 55
A parked car exploded Saturday near one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines in the city of Karbala as people were headed to the area for evening prayers, killing 55 people and wounding dozens, officials said.
The explosion took place in a crowded commercial area near the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, officials said. At least 55 people were killed and 70 wounded, said Salim Kazim, the head of the Karbala health department.
A car bomb exploded in the same area on April 14, killing 47 and wounding 224.
Saturday's explosion occurred a few hundred meters yards from the Imam Abbas shrine, setting several cars on fire and causing chaos. The explosion took place as the streets were filled with people heading for evening prayers at the Abbas shrine and the adjacent Imam Hussein shrine, two of Iraq's holiest Shiite sites.
An angry crowd gathered after the explosion, many of them searching frantically for missing relatives. Some threw stones at the police and at the office of the provincial governor, accusing them of failing to protect the people.
Police fired weapons in the air to disperse the crowds.
Iraqi television showed a plume of black smoke rising from the street as ambulances rushed to retrieve the wounded. One man carried the charred body of a small girl as he ran.
Qassim Hassan, 34, who was about 40 yards away from the explosion, said his brother and cousin were missing.
"I saw dozens of people falling down on the ground and the same happened to me," he said from his hospital bed. "I demand a trial for the people in charge of the security in Karbala. They failed to prevent the breaches. I regret that I voted for those traitors who only care about their posts, not the people who voted for them."
Ali Mohammed, 31, who sells prayer beads, said he heard the blast and felt himself hurled into the air.
"The next thing I knew I opened my eyes in the hospital with my legs and chest burned," he said. "This is a disaster. What is the guilt of the children and women killed today by this terrorist attack?"
In Other Developments:
Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr launched a strong attack Saturday on President George W. Bush, calling him the "greatest evil" for refusing to withdraw American troops from Iraq.
Al-Sadr's statement was read during a parliament session by his cousin, Liqaa al-Yassin, after the U.S. Congress ordered U.S. troops to begin leaving Iraq by Oct. 1. President Bush pledged to veto the measure and neither the House nor the Senate passed the measure with enough votes to override him.
"Here are the Democrats calling you to withdraw or even set a timetable and you are not responding," al-Sadr's statement said. "It is not only them who are calling for this but also Republicans, to whom you belong."
"If you are ignoring your friends and partners, then it is no wonder that you ignore the international and Iraqi points of view. You will not benefit from this stubbornness," he added.
Al-Sadr led two armed uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004, and his Mahdi militia is believed responsible for much of the sectarian killing that pushed this country into civil conflict.
The U.S. military says he has fled to Iran, although his followers insist he is hiding in Iraq.
U.S. and Iraqi troops have been targeting his followers in a major security plan in Baghdad that began on Feb. 14. Hundreds of his followers have been detained and troops carry almost daily raids in his stronghold of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad.
In the statement, al-Sadr criticized comments by top U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus and others who have warned of chaos here if U.S. forces leave.
"What chaos are you claiming will happen if you and the armies of darkness withdraw from our land? What chaos can be worse than the one we are passing through in Iraq where blood is being continuously shed," al-Sadr said.
"What freedom do you claim that you have spread in Iraq? Aren't you aware that the most simple freedoms were stolen from Iraqis, even their right to life, to become independent and unite? If you claimed that your pictures will be hanged in the homes of Iraqis, they are under their feet today."
Al-Sadr said Mr. Bush had "damaged the West's image in the minds of the people of the east and if no one told you, I am telling you now. All this is because of your reckless acts," al-Sadr said.
"If a tower was destroyed in America, what is our guilt as Iraqis? If Saddam (Hussein) destroyed it, and this is impossible, he is in burning Hell now. If the terrorists did it then you are the one who opened to the gates of Iraq to kill us as you live in peace," al-Sadr said, referring to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
Al-Sadr praised those who carry attack against U.S. troops, calling them "honorable Iraqis, not terrorists at all."
"The terrorist is the one who kills civilians, whether a Shiite, Sunni and Christian and their weapons don't target your tanks or soldiers. This means that your withdrawal is a victory to Iraqis whose hands were only tainted by resisting you," he said.
On April 9, thousands of al-Sadr's followers marched in the Shiite holy city of Najaf to mark the fourth anniversary of the fall of Saddam's regime.
Earlier this month, the six Cabinet ministers allied with al-Sadr walked out of the government in protest after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki rejected calls for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. and coalition forces.