News Summary

August 19, 2009 - 07:16:06

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

Following is a summary of news reports posted until 10:00 p.m. Baghdad local time Wednesday-Aug. 19, 2009:

 BAGHDAD -

Iraqi police said the death toll from the massive explosions in Baghdad has climbed to 50, putting the number of wounded reported so far at 300.

BAGHDAD - A media director in the Iraqi Ministry of Health on Wednesday denied that mortar shells had fallen on its downtown Baghdad headquarters.

BAGHDAD - Two persons driving a booby-trapped car were arrested on Wednesday while they were attempting to detonate a car in al-Mansoor neighborhood, western Baghdad.

ANBAR - Two policemen on Wednesday were injured in a car bomb blast near a security checkpoint in Anbar province, according to a local security source.

DIALA - Sixteen detainees from Diala province were released from prisons in Basra, the Diala police commander said Wednesday.

BAGHDAD - An official spokesperson for the Law-imposing Plan in Baghdad on Wednesday said that only two explosions had hit the Iraqi capital today.

BAGHDAD - Ninety-one persons on Wednesday were killed and 552 others were wounded in the series of blasts that tore through the Iraqi capital today, according to security sources.

NINEWA - Police forces on Wednesday found a depot used for manufacturing explosive devices in downtown Mosul City, according to a local security source.

BAGHDAD - An under-secretary of state in the Health Ministry has visited several hospitals in the Iraqi capital to check on the wounded from the deadly blasts that struck Baghdad earlier today.

NINEWA - One Iraqi soldier on Wednesday was killed and three others, including an army colonel, were injured in an explosive charge blast in Ninewa province, according to a local security source.

MISSAN - Nine individuals on Wednesday were arrested on charges of corruption in Missan’s Amara City, according to a local police official.

BAGHDAD - One U.S. serviceman on Wednesday was killed in a combat-related incident at Camp Echo, southern Iraq, according to the U.S. army in Iraq.

NINEWA - Four policemen on Wednesday were killed or wounded during clashes with gunmen in Ninewa province, according to a local security source.

SS (R)

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String of bomb attacks kill 97 in Baghdad

 2009-08-19 19:48:09  

    BAGHDAD, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) --

A series of deadly bomb attacks struck Baghdad Wednesday with at least 97 people killed and about 585 others injured, shaping a setback to Iraq's efforts to restore normalcy in the capital after 50 days of U.S. troops pullout of Iraqi cities and towns.

    The bloodiest attacks occurred when two truck bombs struck the Iraqi Foreign and Finance Ministries before midday, killing a total of 95 people and wounding some 563 others, while more than 150 civilian cars were shattered.

    A truck bomb loaded with about two tons of explosives detonated near a parking-lot close to the Foreign Ministry at the edge of the Green Zone in central Baghdad, a source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The powerful blast destroyed several buildings around the street in front of the Foreign Ministry, prompting rescue workers to search under the debris of the buildings.

    The facade of the ministry itself was badly damaged and parts of the nearby al-Rasheed Hotel was also damaged. Moreover, some of the windows in the Iraqi parliament inside the Green Zone were smashed.

    The force of the massive blast destroyed concrete blast walls in front of the ministry to protect it.

    The powerful blast left a crater of three meters deep and some 10 meters wide, he added.

    Only two minutes before, another truck bomb loaded with approximately more than one ton of explosives blew up under a bridge close to the Iraqi Finance Ministry near a highway in Waziriyah district at the eastern bank of the Tigris River, bringing down some 50 meters of the bridge and causing severe damages to the ministry building, the source said.

    The Shraqiyah, an Iraqi local television aired a footage showing the ministry's 10-story building was badly damaged while the force of the massive blast covered large area near the ministry with debris and smashed glass.

    Meanwhile, undetermined number of mortar rounds landed on the commercial street of Kifah in central the capital and Salhiyah neighborhood, wounding eight people, the police said.

    A double bomb explosion at Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad wounded ten people, while another roadside bomb at Baiyaa district in southern Baghdad killed two people and wounded four others, they said.

    The spate of the attacks renewed doubts over the capability of the Iraqi security forces to maintain security after the U.S. troops pulled out of the cities and towns on June 30, in line with an agreement signed late last year between Baghdad and Washington.

    Qassim Atta, spokesman of Baghdad operation command, told the state-run Iraqia television that his command blamed the violence on Saddam Hussein's Baath party members and the al-Qaida militants.

    "We accuse the Baath party members of these terrorist attacks," Atta said, adding that the goal of such attacks is "to blow the successes achieved by the government."

    Meanwhile, Atta said "these attacks showed negligence which led to security breach, and the Iraqi forces should be blamed for."

    He also said that his troops captured a third booby-trapped truck loaded with large containers, filled with explosives at Salhiyah district and defused it before the explosion.

    The attacks also came as the Iraqi security force were lifting concrete blast walls from Baghdad neighborhoods and main streets which helped to reduce violence during the past three years.

    Despite dramatic drop of violence in recent months, deadly attacks against Iraqi security forces and civilians remain common in Baghdad.

Editor: Wang Guanqun

Baghdad blasts leave 95 dead Reuters  

Arab News, August 20, 2009

TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION:

The site near the Iraqi Foreign Ministry in Baghdad after the attack on Wednesday. (AP)  

BAGHDAD: A series of blasts in Baghdad killed 95 people and wounded 536 in Iraq’s bloodiest day this year, prompting a rare admission of culpability from Iraqi security forces.

At least six blasts struck near government ministries and other targets weeks after US combat troops withdrew from urban centers in June, thrusting Iraq’s security forces into the lead role.

“This operation shows negligence, and is considered a security breach for which Iraqi forces must take most of the blame,” Maj. Gen. Qassim Al-Moussawi, Baghdad’s security spokesman, told Iraqiya state TV. Wednesday’s blasts were a rare example of a coordinated attack on heavily guarded targets.

In one blast, a massive truck bomb close to a security checkpoint leading to the heavily fortified Green Zone blew out the windows of the nearby Foreign Ministry, sending shards of glass through busy offices, killing dozens of people.

“The windows of the Foreign Ministry shattered, killing the people inside. I could see ministry workers, journalists and security guards among the dead,” said a distraught ministry employee who gave her name as Asia.

The explosion was powerful enough to shatter some windows of Iraq’s parliament building in the Green Zone. The attacks could undermine confidence in Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki before the parliamentary election.

In a statement, Al-Maliki called for a review of security plans, but added that the attacks were aimed at “raising doubts about our armed forces, which have proven themselves very capable of confronting terrorists.”

Analysts and members of the public disagreed. “They are meant to convey a message to Iraqis and the world that insurgents are still there and can block the political process,” said analyst Hameed Fadhel of Baghdad University.

“Today’s attacks reveal a major deficiency and weakness of the security forces. They were organized and huge,” he added.

Normally busy Baghdad streets emptied, and the few people still outside poured scorn on Iraq’s security forces.

“I don’t think this is the work of terrorists, I think this is settling of scores by political groups ... Iraqi forces are only capable of doing routine things, without efficiency,” said traffic policeman Louay Mohammed.

Laborer Haythem Adil said: “The security forces don’t provide security, they just cause traffic.”

No group claimed responsibility, but Moussawi said two members of Al-Qaeda were arrested when another car bomb was intercepted. Iraqi television later showed a truck loaded with water tankers stuffed with explosives that had been disarmed.

Another truck bomb in Baghdad’s Waziriya district near the finance ministry killed at least 28 people and caused widespread destruction, police said. Part of a raised highway near the building collapsed, a Reuters witness said.

“Suddenly a powerful blast shook the building and glass flew ... Most employees were wounded by the flying glass and others, including myself, suffered concussion ... I awoke with blood all over my face,” said ministry worker Batoul Al-Amri.

Another explosion was close enough to Reuters’ offices in central Baghdad’s Karrada district to burst open windows and doors. Columns of smoke could be seen rising from several blast sites. The Baghdad provincial government building came under mortar attack, police said, as did the Salhiya district in central Baghdad, home to army bases and a television station.

At least one suspected mortar landed near the United Nations compound in the Green Zone, startling UN workers marking the sixth anniversary of the destruction of their previous Baghdad headquarters by a truck bomb which killed envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and other staff, UN guards said.

In Bayaa, in southern Baghdad, a blast killed two people.