echarcha
November 19th, 2005, 12:15 AM
77 die in Iraq mosque attacks - Sunnis blow up Shia mosque
Twin Blasts Sectarian divide set to worsen ahead of Dec vote Faris al-Mehdawi BAGHDAD, November 18 Two suicide bombers, strapped with explosives, killed 77 people and reduced two crowded Shi’ite mosques to rubble during Friday prayers in a northeastern Iraq town, deepening the country's sectarian conflict.
More bodies were trapped in the rubble, said Ibrahim Ahmed Bajalan, a member of the local council in Khanaqin. “I think there are more than 100 people dead,” he said. Another lesser blast was reported near a bank in the town, police said.
Kamaran Ahmed, the director of Khanaqin hospital, said 77 people had been confirmed killed and 80 were wounded. He said many bodies were too badly mutilated to identify. The death toll rose steadily through the day but looked to be stabilising.
The attacks in the mixed Shi’ite and Kurdish town near the border with Iran seemed certain to fuel sectarian tensions ahead of a December 15 election that Washington hopes will pave the way for peace and democracy 2-1/2 years after the US-led invasion.
Police said the bombers entered the small Sheikh Murad and Khanaqin Grand mosques with explosive belts strapped to their waists and detonated themselves when the buildings were at their busiest—during prayers on the Muslim holy day.
Kurdish peshmerga militia forces sealed off Khanaqin shortly after the blasts, and US forces also came to help, ferrying the wounded to hospitals in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya.
In Baghdad earlier on Friday, two suicide truck bombs failed to pierce the perimeter of a major hotel and destroyed an apartment block instead, killing at least six people, including two children, police said. Police said at least 40 were also wounded in the near simultaneous blasts at the Hamra Hotel. A nearby apartment building was reduced to rubble and about 20 cars were destroyed. It was the second major attack on high-profile hotels in Baghdad in a month. The Sheraton and Palestine hotels were hit in late October. —Reuters
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=82248
Twin Blasts Sectarian divide set to worsen ahead of Dec vote Faris al-Mehdawi BAGHDAD, November 18 Two suicide bombers, strapped with explosives, killed 77 people and reduced two crowded Shi’ite mosques to rubble during Friday prayers in a northeastern Iraq town, deepening the country's sectarian conflict.
More bodies were trapped in the rubble, said Ibrahim Ahmed Bajalan, a member of the local council in Khanaqin. “I think there are more than 100 people dead,” he said. Another lesser blast was reported near a bank in the town, police said.
Kamaran Ahmed, the director of Khanaqin hospital, said 77 people had been confirmed killed and 80 were wounded. He said many bodies were too badly mutilated to identify. The death toll rose steadily through the day but looked to be stabilising.
The attacks in the mixed Shi’ite and Kurdish town near the border with Iran seemed certain to fuel sectarian tensions ahead of a December 15 election that Washington hopes will pave the way for peace and democracy 2-1/2 years after the US-led invasion.
Police said the bombers entered the small Sheikh Murad and Khanaqin Grand mosques with explosive belts strapped to their waists and detonated themselves when the buildings were at their busiest—during prayers on the Muslim holy day.
Kurdish peshmerga militia forces sealed off Khanaqin shortly after the blasts, and US forces also came to help, ferrying the wounded to hospitals in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya.
In Baghdad earlier on Friday, two suicide truck bombs failed to pierce the perimeter of a major hotel and destroyed an apartment block instead, killing at least six people, including two children, police said. Police said at least 40 were also wounded in the near simultaneous blasts at the Hamra Hotel. A nearby apartment building was reduced to rubble and about 20 cars were destroyed. It was the second major attack on high-profile hotels in Baghdad in a month. The Sheraton and Palestine hotels were hit in late October. —Reuters
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=82248