Iraq Watch: August 17, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A coordinated triple car bombing attack in the capital of Baghdad on Wednesday left at least 43 Iraqis dead and another 85 wounded.
The attacks focused on the Nahda bus station in central Baghdad. The first attacker detonated his explosive-laden vehicle near a group of policemen outside of the station shortly before 8 a.m. A short time later a second suicide car bomb exploded in the parking lot of the station near the buses that carry passengers to southern Shiite cities. About 30 minutes after the two initiall attacks a third bomber targeted the nearby Kindi hospital where many of the injured were being taken. Black smoke from the three blasts could be seen rising over the war-torn city's early morning skyline.
The Iraqi Transportation Ministry said four suspects were apprehended in connection with the bus terminal attacks.
Elsewhere, in the Sunni city of Fallujah, another car bomb exploded killing at least three civilians. Eight others were wounded in the blast which occurred on central Wahda street.
Six new Iraqi army recruits were slain on Wednesday when gunmen ambushed the minibus they were riding in near Hawija, 30 miles southwest of Kirkuk.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the deaths of two U.S. soldiers today. A Task Force Freedom soldier was killed by gunfire on Monday in the northern city of Mosul while conducting combat operations. The other soldier, assigned to Task Force Baghdad, died early yesterday in southwest Baghdad when his patrol struck an IED.
In further violence three truck drivers, including a Turkish citizen, were killed in the northern city of Baiji AFP reports. Also to the north, one civilian and a policemen were killed in separate incidents in Mosul.
Also Wednesday, CNN reports a roadside bomb killed a member of the powerful Shiite political group Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) in eastern Baghdad.
On the political front, the largest Sunni group participating in drafting Iraq's constitution - the Iraqi Islamic Party - on Wednesday denounced the drafting committee accusing it of being biased and incompetent according to the AP. Sunni support and approval of the draft constitution is vital if it is to be agreed upon by the newly set deadline of August 22.
The attacks focused on the Nahda bus station in central Baghdad. The first attacker detonated his explosive-laden vehicle near a group of policemen outside of the station shortly before 8 a.m. A short time later a second suicide car bomb exploded in the parking lot of the station near the buses that carry passengers to southern Shiite cities. About 30 minutes after the two initiall attacks a third bomber targeted the nearby Kindi hospital where many of the injured were being taken. Black smoke from the three blasts could be seen rising over the war-torn city's early morning skyline.
The Iraqi Transportation Ministry said four suspects were apprehended in connection with the bus terminal attacks.
Elsewhere, in the Sunni city of Fallujah, another car bomb exploded killing at least three civilians. Eight others were wounded in the blast which occurred on central Wahda street.
Six new Iraqi army recruits were slain on Wednesday when gunmen ambushed the minibus they were riding in near Hawija, 30 miles southwest of Kirkuk.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the deaths of two U.S. soldiers today. A Task Force Freedom soldier was killed by gunfire on Monday in the northern city of Mosul while conducting combat operations. The other soldier, assigned to Task Force Baghdad, died early yesterday in southwest Baghdad when his patrol struck an IED.
In further violence three truck drivers, including a Turkish citizen, were killed in the northern city of Baiji AFP reports. Also to the north, one civilian and a policemen were killed in separate incidents in Mosul.
Also Wednesday, CNN reports a roadside bomb killed a member of the powerful Shiite political group Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) in eastern Baghdad.
On the political front, the largest Sunni group participating in drafting Iraq's constitution - the Iraqi Islamic Party - on Wednesday denounced the drafting committee accusing it of being biased and incompetent according to the AP. Sunni support and approval of the draft constitution is vital if it is to be agreed upon by the newly set deadline of August 22.
posted by Todd @ 7:51 PM
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