Baghdad Blasts Kill 62
Car bombs and a rocket barrage struck a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad late Sunday, killing at least 62 people, a municipal official said. The rockets were apparently fired from a mostly Sunni district targeted by U.S. troops in a crackdown against the sectarian violence roiling the capital.
About 140 were injured in the attack on the Zafraniyah neighborhood in southern Baghdad, which began about 7:15 p.m. with two car bombs and a barrage of an estimated nine rockets, Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Saddoun Abu al-Ula said.
He said the barrage heavily damaged three buildings, including a multistory apartment house that collapsed. Al-Ula said the rockets appeared to have been fired from the neighborhood of Dora, which has been the focus of thousands of U.S. troops sent to try to restore peace in Baghdad.
The head of a municipal council, Mohammed al-Rubaie, told Iraqi government television Monday that the death toll had risen to 62. He gave no precise number of injured but officials late Sunday put the figure at more than 140.
Several large explosions were heard in central Baghdad at sunrise Monday, but it was unclear where they came from.
The attack in Zafraniyah was the deadliest since the United States announced last month that it was reinforcing troop strength in the capital following a surge in sectarian violence that the United Nations estimated killed nearly 6,000 Iraqis in May and June.
The complex style of the assault was similar to a July 27 attack of mortars, rockets and car bombs on another mostly Shiite district, Karradah, which killed 31 people. Police said the rockets and mortars that struck Karradah also were fired from Dora.
A Sunni extremist group, the al-Sahaba Soldiers, claimed responsibility for the Karradah attack to punish Shiites for supporting the "crusaders," or Americans, and the "treacherous" Iraqi government.
Muhanna Yassin, who lives in Zafraniyah, said by telephone that the attack had left the neighborhood "a total mess" with "bodies of the dead and injured scattered around in the streets — old, young, women and children."
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The Zafraniyah resident described the attack: "The ground shook underneath us and there was chaos everywhere," he said. "Everyone was dazed and confused, looking for their families. Some children and grown-ups were crying. I can't even begin describing their state."
He said many of the dead and injured were cut by flying glass and debris, leaving part of the streets soaked in blood. Iraqi state television reported that some victims may be trapped in the rubble of the apartment building.
The multiple attacks were part of the grisly pattern of Sunni-Shiite violence that American officials consider the greatest threat to Iraq's stability more than three years after the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's regime.
The new push by U.S. and Iraqi forces to reverse a rising tide of violence in Baghdad will target four violent "hotspots" in the city, the American general in charge of the plan said Saturday.
Those parts of the city have experienced frequent kidnappings, suicide bombings and revenge killings by Shiites and Sunnis.
More than 7,000 U.S. reinforcements – almost twice the number originally expected – are now going block by block through the Iraqi capital's Dora neighborhood, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann, who was the only television reporter to witness the searches.
U.S. commanders are sending nearly 12,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers into the capital to curb the surge of sectarian violence, which was described by the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, on Sunday as "the principal problem here."
"I believe that the sectarian violence is serious. I believe the Iraqis have overcome challenges before ... and they can overcome this as well," Khalilzad said.
Earlier Sunday, the U.S. command announced that soldiers of the 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division had arrested a key terrorist cell leader who was "directly linked" to the July 17 attack on an outdoor market in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad.
The statement said the arrest was made Thursday but did not give the suspect's name. Gunmen believed to be Sunnis opened fire on shoppers and vendors in the Mahmoudiya market during last month's attack, killing at least 51 people and wounding more than 70. Most of the victims were Shiites.
Sectarian tensions have been rising following the Feb. 22 bombing at a Shiite shrine in Samarra, which triggered a wave of reprisal attacks against Sunni mosques and clerics. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have fled their homes since then, seeking refuge in areas where their Muslim sect is in the majority.
Much of the violence has been blamed on sectarian militias and armed groups that target members of the rival religious community. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, has promised to disband the militias, some of which are linked to figures in his own government.
Politicians from several factions, meanwhile, said Shiite and Kurdish parties are organizing a bid to oust the Sunni speaker of parliament.
Since taking office May 20, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani has made a number of statements that offended key constituencies, including speaking out against regional self-rule, strongly supported by Shiites and Kurds but opposed by many Sunni Arabs.
Al-Mashhadani's ouster, which could be done by a new vote in parliament, would be the first major shake-up in the government of national unity. Al-Mashhadani would likely be replaced by another Sunni Arab if the move against him succeeds.