http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091405I.shtml
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/14/AR2005091400471.html?sub=AR
Series of Baghdad Attacks Kill At Least 160
Over a Dozen Bombings, Rocket Attacks Target Civilians and U.S. Military
By Ellen Knickmeyer, Naseer Nouri and Bassam Sebti
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, September 14, 2005; 3:15 PM
BAGHDAD, Sept. 14 -- Insurgents killed at least 160 people Wednesday in more than a dozen separate bombings and rocket attacks that made for one of Baghdad's deadliest days.
Targets included crowds of Iraqi civilians and at least three U.S. military convoys. The deadliest attack, in a northwest Baghdad neighborhood, exploded among crowds of Shiite Muslim day laborers gathered to look for work. Iraq's Interior Ministry spokesman, Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman, said 90 people were killed.
Smoke rises in the air following a suicide attack in Baghdad. (Karim Sahib - AFP)
Photos
Baghdad Bombings
A wave of insurgent bombings and rocket attacks, targeting crowds of Iraqi civilians and U.S. military convoys, made for one of Baghdad's deadliest days.
News From Iraq
Series of Baghdad Attacks Kill At Least 160
Bush Urges World to Fight Terrorism
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Attacks continued for hours throughout the day, bringing Baghdad to a standstill.
Panicked families ran from hospitals to morgues, many seeking more than one dead relative. Armed gunmen--both Shiite militia and Iraqi regular forces--held intersections and closed roads around the city as attacks, and rumors of attacks, grew.
"Explosion! Explosion!" a Shiite militia fighter yelled at one crossing, waving an AK-47 to turn back families looking for their dead.
Blackened burn victims twisted in agony on hospital beds. Outside, men ran fingers down lists of the wounded, searching for names of missing loved ones. Police closed off streets outside hospitals, fearful of second-wave attacks that in past months have targeted bombing victims taken to hospitals. Persistent rumors of bombers with suicide vests roaming hospital wards compounded the anxiety of victims and their families.
Additional attacks included two other car bombs that killed a total of 26 people; a rocket attack that killed two Iraqi civilians; a car bomb that targeted an Iraqi army convoy, killing three police; and two more car bombs that hit separate U.S. military convoys, wounding two Americans, Iraqi and U.S. officials said.
Insurgents mounted an even more intense attack on an American military convoy in the late afternoon, first hitting the convoy with a roadside bomb. As American forces gathered at the site and U.S. military helicopters hovered, a car bomb hit the convoy, witnesses said.
A reporter watched as U.S. forces exchanged gunfire with unseen assailants at the scene.
U.S. officials said there was no immediate word on any U.S. casualties in the attack, which also left civilians wounded.
Separately, attackers opened fire on a car carrying Iraqi police officers, killing one, and then launched a car bomb when other officers responded, killing a total of four people. A 10th bomb was reported late Wednesday afternoon near the Green Zone that houses U.S. officials and the Iraqi interim government. There was no immediate word on any casualties there.
Suspicion fell on Abu Musab Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq group, which is known for just such coordinated series of attacks. A statement by the group claiming responsibility for the attacks was carried by an Islamist Web site, according to the Reuters news agency. The group said on the Web site that it is waging a nationwide suicide bombing campaign to avenge the military offensive being waged by U.S. and Iraqi forces on the northern town of Tall Afar.
The bombings followed a week of relative calm in the capital.
Meanwhile, U.S. warplanes attacked the western town of Haditha, one of several communities along the Euphrates River that are dominated by foreign and Iraqi insurgents. U.S. forces said they killed four suspected insurgents and detained a man with suspected ties to al Qaeda.
The Associated Press contributed this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/14/AR2005091400471.html?sub=AR
Series of Baghdad Attacks Kill At Least 160
Over a Dozen Bombings, Rocket Attacks Target Civilians and U.S. Military
By Ellen Knickmeyer, Naseer Nouri and Bassam Sebti
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, September 14, 2005; 3:15 PM
BAGHDAD, Sept. 14 -- Insurgents killed at least 160 people Wednesday in more than a dozen separate bombings and rocket attacks that made for one of Baghdad's deadliest days.
Targets included crowds of Iraqi civilians and at least three U.S. military convoys. The deadliest attack, in a northwest Baghdad neighborhood, exploded among crowds of Shiite Muslim day laborers gathered to look for work. Iraq's Interior Ministry spokesman, Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman, said 90 people were killed.
Smoke rises in the air following a suicide attack in Baghdad. (Karim Sahib - AFP)
Photos
Baghdad Bombings
A wave of insurgent bombings and rocket attacks, targeting crowds of Iraqi civilians and U.S. military convoys, made for one of Baghdad's deadliest days.
News From Iraq
Series of Baghdad Attacks Kill At Least 160
Bush Urges World to Fight Terrorism
Hurricane George
President Revisits Foreign Policy
Who's Blogging?
Read what bloggers are saying about this article.
Proof Through the Night
PostWatch
Please Explain
Full List of Blogs (12 links) »
Attacks continued for hours throughout the day, bringing Baghdad to a standstill.
Panicked families ran from hospitals to morgues, many seeking more than one dead relative. Armed gunmen--both Shiite militia and Iraqi regular forces--held intersections and closed roads around the city as attacks, and rumors of attacks, grew.
"Explosion! Explosion!" a Shiite militia fighter yelled at one crossing, waving an AK-47 to turn back families looking for their dead.
Blackened burn victims twisted in agony on hospital beds. Outside, men ran fingers down lists of the wounded, searching for names of missing loved ones. Police closed off streets outside hospitals, fearful of second-wave attacks that in past months have targeted bombing victims taken to hospitals. Persistent rumors of bombers with suicide vests roaming hospital wards compounded the anxiety of victims and their families.
Additional attacks included two other car bombs that killed a total of 26 people; a rocket attack that killed two Iraqi civilians; a car bomb that targeted an Iraqi army convoy, killing three police; and two more car bombs that hit separate U.S. military convoys, wounding two Americans, Iraqi and U.S. officials said.
Insurgents mounted an even more intense attack on an American military convoy in the late afternoon, first hitting the convoy with a roadside bomb. As American forces gathered at the site and U.S. military helicopters hovered, a car bomb hit the convoy, witnesses said.
A reporter watched as U.S. forces exchanged gunfire with unseen assailants at the scene.
U.S. officials said there was no immediate word on any U.S. casualties in the attack, which also left civilians wounded.
Separately, attackers opened fire on a car carrying Iraqi police officers, killing one, and then launched a car bomb when other officers responded, killing a total of four people. A 10th bomb was reported late Wednesday afternoon near the Green Zone that houses U.S. officials and the Iraqi interim government. There was no immediate word on any casualties there.
Suspicion fell on Abu Musab Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq group, which is known for just such coordinated series of attacks. A statement by the group claiming responsibility for the attacks was carried by an Islamist Web site, according to the Reuters news agency. The group said on the Web site that it is waging a nationwide suicide bombing campaign to avenge the military offensive being waged by U.S. and Iraqi forces on the northern town of Tall Afar.
The bombings followed a week of relative calm in the capital.
Meanwhile, U.S. warplanes attacked the western town of Haditha, one of several communities along the Euphrates River that are dominated by foreign and Iraqi insurgents. U.S. forces said they killed four suspected insurgents and detained a man with suspected ties to al Qaeda.
The Associated Press contributed this report.
