By Christopher Gehrke
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, South America
BAQUBA, Iraq – Blasts in the Iraqi cities of Baquba, Ramadi, Mosul, and Baghdad killed more than 70 and injured more than 100 yesterday.
At approximately 10:50 a.m., a vehicle filled with explosives detonated outside a restaurant in Baquba, killing 53 and injuring 90. The Baquba police estimated that nearly 1,400 pounds of explosives were packed into the vehicle.
A suicide bombing in Ramadi outside a kebab restaurant killed thirteen; three were killed and twelve were wounded in another car bombing in Mosul; and three were killed and eight were injured in Baghdad in a car bomb blast that targeted police patrol.
BCC reports that Sunni Islamist groups inspired by al-Qaeda are likely suspects.
The death toll in Baquba is expected to rise, said police. There were still burnt bodies inside the cars at the scene. Most of the bodies were burned beyond identification, and most of the dead appeared to be women and children. Baquba is known as an insurgent stronghold.
One physician described the scene in Baquba: “Some of the bodies that came to the hospital were, let’s say, not bodies, but only a hand or a torso.”
The Baquba attack was one of the most deadly in Iraq in months, where it appeared the U.S. surge strategy was successful in preventing civilian deaths. This week, however, has seen several attacks. Seventeen were also killed in two bomb attacks near Mosul Monday, among them 12 members of the Iraqi army.
American and Iraqi forces were backed by Awakening Councils in Baquba and Ramadi, which are mostly Sunni organizations that oppose Sunni extremists. Baquba residents said that the attacks were probably retaliation for their decision to fight these groups.
Rear Adm. Greg Smith – the chief spokesman for the U.S. military there – told the New York Times that the attacks show that al-Qaeda could regenerate and strike, despite not controlling the territory as it had.
“They no longer possess the capability to terrorize and intimidate the major population centers or large swaths of Iraq’s countryside, but they certainly maintain both the will and the capacity to indiscriminately kill and maim innocent Iraqi citizens with vehicle and suicide bombs,” he said.
Authorities are no sure if the triple car bombing was coordinated or not.
For more information, please see:
BBC News – Dozens dead as Iraq cities bombed – 16 April 2008
New York Times – Dozens killed in Bombings in Four Iraqi Cities – 16 April 2008
Times Online – Dozens killed in car bombs across Iraq – 15 April
Agence France Press – Iraq bombings, clashes kill 62 – 15 April 2008
Gramma International – Lethal day in Iraq, 69 dead – 15 April 2008
San Francisco Chronicle – Explosions kill dozens in 2 cities – 16 April 2008
Daily Dispatch – Car bombs rip through Iraqi lull – 16 April 2008
Guardian – Bomb attacks kill at least 50 people as new wave of violence hits Iraq – 16 April 2008
