Iraq Watch: February 2, 2006

Dual Bombings Rock Baghdad; Five U.S. Soldiers Killed

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two bombings some 20 minutes apart shook eastern Baghdad Thursday evening leaving at least 11 Iraqis dead and scores more wounded.

The first bomb detonated near a gas station sparking a large fire. The blast killed at least two and injured 13. Plumes of thick, black smoke could be seen rising into Baghdad's early-evening skyline as a result of the explosion.

The second explosion, believed to have been the work of a suicide car bomber, struck an outdoor market in the capital's al-Amin neighborhood. Nine people were slain and an additional 57 were wounded in the car bombing.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the deaths of five U.S. service members Thursday. Three MND Baghdad soldiers were killed yesterday in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad while another MND Baghdad soldier died from wounds sustained in a small-arms fire attack. Separately, a II MEF Marine was killed by small-arms fire yesterday while conducting combat operations near the former insurgent stronghold city of Fallujah.

Elsewhere, a U.S. helicopter launched a barrage of rockets after apparently taking ground fire in the Shiite slum district of Sadr City, located in eastern Baghdad. The rockets killed one woman and injured two more, including a two-year-old child, angering many area residents. The area is a stronghold of support for maverick Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and has been witness to two uprisings staged by the young cleric over the course of the occupation. Recently, however, the area has remained relatively quiet and free of violence after al-Sadr decided to join the Iraqi political process.

Sadr City residents denounced the rocket attack. Falah Hassan Shanshal, a Shiite lawmaker and supporter of al-Sadr said the attack was an attempt to "draw the Sadr movement into a new fight to affect our participation in the political process."

Also near the impoverished Shiite slum named after Muqtada's later father, a shepherd discovered the executed bodies of 16 unidentified men dressed in civilian clothes. The men, who bore signs of torture, were found bound and blindfolded.

In other violence Thursday, a roadside bomb in the capital's eastern Ghazaliyah neighborhood killed three Iraqi soldiers while an Iraqi police major and his driver were assassinated by gunmen in the southern city of Basra.