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150 dead on second bloodiest day in iraq { September 15 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/ce434c74-2586-11da-98dc-00000e2511c8.htmlhttp://news.ft.com/cms/s/ce434c74-2586-11da-98dc-00000e2511c8.html
Rebels kill 150 in one of Baghdad's bloodiest days
By Steve Negus, Iraq Correspondent
Published: September 15 2005 03:00 | Last updated: September 15 2005 03:00
In some of the deadliest terror attacks since the 2003 invasion, up to a dozen insurgent bombings and shootings saw 150 people killed in Baghdad yesterday and wounded over 500 others.
The attacks came as Iraqi leaders claimed to have finalised a constitution, and as the Iraqi branch of al-Qaeda swore to avenge a recent US-Iraqi offensive on the north-eastern town of Tal Afar. The one-day death toll was possibly the highest in the capital since March 2003, and one of the attacks - a suicide car bomb in the predominantly Shia north Baghdad neighbourhood of Kadhemiya that killed 117 people - was the second deadliest single blast.
According to the Iraqi interior ministry, a suicide bomber pulled up to a crowd of day labourers waiting for work by a public square, called them over to his pick-up with offers of employment, then detonated the vehicle with 220kg of explosive.
Witnesses said that no US or Iraqi military or police targets were in the vicinity, suggesting that the attacker had aimed to cause as much civilian carnage as possible.
The blast comes two weeks after a stampede at a Shia religious commemoration sparked by fears of a suicide bomber killed over 1,000 people in the same area.
Elsewhere in the city, a car bomber blew himself up near a queue of people lined up to fill gas canisters, killing 11, while other bombs targeted Iraqi and US patrols and the offices of a Shia party. In addition, unknown gunmen pulled 17 Shia men from a single tribe from their homes in the town of Taji north of Baghdad and killed them, in one of a series of apparent sectarian massacres that have become increasingly common in the last six months.
The attacks came as a statement appeared on a website used by the al-Qaeda in Iraq organisation of militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi vowing revenge for a recent US-Iraqi offensive. "We would like to congratulate the Muslim nation and inform it the battle to avenge the Sunnis of Tal Afar has begun," it said, although it did not directly take credit for yesterday's bombs. An audio tape purportedly released by the organisation also declared all-out war on Shia.
US patrols also came under attack. A Humvee military vehicle was burnt out by a roadside bomb, but the US military said it suffered no casualties. Minutes later another bomb nearby wounded two Iraqi policemen in a convoy.
On Sunday, the US and Iraqi militaries had wrapped up a sweep through the north-eastern town, a reported transit route for Islamist volunteers moving in from Syria, in which they claimed to have killed over 150 insurgents and detained at least 500 suspects.
The insurgents have timed similar waves of explosions for politically sensitive moments, and this surge in the bloodshed comes as Shia and Kurdish leaders try to win Sunni Arab support for Iraq's permanent constitution. The run-up to the October 15 vote on the constitution has worsened tensions between Iraq's main communities, Shia, Sunni Arabs and Kurds.
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