BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two powerful suicide car bombs blew up outside the Justice Ministry and city government offices in downtown Baghdad Sunday, killing at least 136 people in the worst attack in more than two years. Iraqi leaders said the attacks aimed to disrupt political progress in the months leading up to January's crucial elections.
While violence has dropped dramatically in the country since the height of the sectarian tensions, the latest bombings underscored the precarious nature of the security gains and the insurgency's abilities to still pull off devastating attacks in the center of what is supposed to be one of Baghdad's most secure areas.
The street where the blasts occurred had just been reopened to vehicle traffic a few months ago when blast walls were repositioned to allow traffic closer to the government buildings. Such changes were touted by Iraq's prime minister as a sign that safety was returning to the city.
Twin car bombings in central Baghdad killed at least 147 people today in what looks like the start to a blood-drenched election campaign.
The attacks - the deadliest in two years - occurred along a road thronged with traffic and destroyed three government buildings, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Public Works and the Baghdad governor's office, where ten members of parliament were attending a meeting.
The bombs exploded within two minutes of each other at around 10:30 in the morning, First came a smaller bomb outside the Baghdad governorate, driving pedestrians north along Haifa street towards a ministerial complex 500 metres away, where the second and larger bomb went off.
Hospitals overflowed with more than 600 wounded and columns of brown smoke hung over the city for hours. Haifa Street, which runs north from the fortified Green Zone, was flooded several feet deep with water from burst mains. The water turned red in places with the blood of the dead and injured.
"Where were the security forces?" screamed Mohammed Radhi, who was searching for his sister, a ministry employee.
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One man, however, owes his freedom to the bombs. He had been kidnapped and bundled into the boot of a car minutes earlier. The driver was injured by the first blast on Haifa Street and two accomplices were killed. "He kicked the inside several times before we opened the boot," said a police officer. "We managed to free him from the kidnapping."
Edited to add another source that includes some human interest.
UPDATED:
quote:
Iraqi officials have raised the death toll from Sunday's bombings in Baghdad to 155 and they say another 500 people were wounded in the explosions.
The co-ordinated attacks, near the justice and local government ministries and the provincial government HQ, were Baghdad's bloodiest since April 2007.
Suicide bombers detonated two vehicles, a lorry at a busy junction near the two ministries and a car in a parking bay.
US President Barack Obama branded the attacks "hateful and destructive".
American troops have been called in to help the investigation and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has pledged that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.
Thank you for BOTH links. Pray for peace. May God protect the Coalition Forces as well as the innocent Iraqi Population. I pray this does not happen to this degree again. This was inside the Green Zone with cement barricades. Many lifes lost. Many more wounded. Many different 'theories' from ""Retribution from Iran for the Revolutionary Guards bombed last week" to "An ''Inside job''. To ''increasing violence'' as America departs to inept, corrupt 'insiders' to opposing Sunni vs Shia vs Kurd vs Baathists. Who knows?? God Bless the USA!!
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZkxPXuH-JI" --------- 'Two suicide bombs tear through Baghdad, killing more than 130 people and wounding over 500 in one of the deadliest days in Iraq this year.'
It seems that Obama has "weighed in" on the bombings ... from the BBC:
quote:
Title: Obama's fury at Baghdad bloodbath
US President Barack Obama has led international condemnation of Sunday's double suicide bomb attack in Baghdad that killed at least 132 people.
Mr Obama branded the attacks - the worst in more than two years in Iraq - "hateful and destructive".
UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said they were a "terrible reminder of the threat from violent extremism".
The blasts hit the ministry of justice and a provincial government office near the heavily fortified Green Zone.
<snip>
The White House said President Obama had spoken to Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki and President Jalal Talabani to pledge his support.
Mr Obama said in a statement: "I strongly condemn these outrageous attacks on the Iraqi people, and send my deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones.
"These bombings serve no purpose other than the murder of innocent men, women and children, and they only reveal the hateful and destructive agenda of those who would deny the Iraqi people the future that they deserve."
President Obama's words are so true and profound and I agree 100%. Glad he condemned this senseless violence and loss of life. And he said it so well. Thank you PBO!!!
Iraqi officials have raised the death toll from Sunday's bombings in Baghdad to 155 and they say another 500 people were wounded in the explosions.
The co-ordinated attacks, near the justice and local government ministries and the provincial government HQ, were Baghdad's bloodiest since April 2007.
Suicide bombers detonated two vehicles, a lorry at a busy junction near the two ministries and a car in a parking bay.
US President Barack Obama branded the attacks "hateful and destructive".
American troops have been called in to help the investigation and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has pledged that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.
