Iraq Watch: January 4, 2006

Bloody Day Leaves Dozens Dead

BAGHDAD, Iraq - In one of the deadliest days in recent weeks a series of attacks left over 50 people dead across Iraq on Wednesday.

In the bloodiest assault a suicide bomber detonated himself among a Shiite funeral procession in Muqdadiyah, 60 miles north of Baghdad, killing at least 32 mourners and wounding over 40. Amer Khazim, who attended the funeral, told the AP, "Suddenly, there was a strong sound and we were turned upside down.... I saw many legs and hands flying all over the place."

The funeral was being held for the nephew of Dawa party politician Ahmed al-Bakka who was slain yesterday. The Shiite Dawa party is headed by current Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

Elsewhere, militants armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades ambushed a convoy of some 60 fuel tankers and their Iraqi security escorts, 25 miles north of the capital. Four people were killed in the attack, which left at least 20 tanker trucks destroyed. The prominent insurgent group the Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI) claimed responsibility for the incident.

Smoldering hulls of trucks littered the roadside on the route from Beiji south to Baghdad.

In the capital city itself, a car bomb rocked an outdoor market in the southern Dora neighborhood killing at least seven and injuring an additional 15. Separately, a car bomb in northern Baghdad left four people dead and 13 wounded. Also in Baghdad, gunmen assassinated a senior member of Iraq's Oil Ministry along with his son in a western district of the city.

Three more people were killed in a car bomb attack in the northern, oil-rich city of Kirkuk.