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Bombings kill at least 60 in Iraq
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-18 20:28
Suicide bombers killed 52 worshippers at a Shiite mosque near the Iranian
border on Friday. In Baghdad two car bombs destroyed the blast wall protecting a
hotel housing international journalists and killed eight Iraqis.
US military armored vehicle passes beside the Hamra hotel,
right, at the site where two suicide car bombers detonated vehicles in
Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Nov. 18, 2005, in a residential district, and a
hotel housing foreign journalists was the apparent target, U.S. and Iraqi
officials said. The blast was also close to an Interior Ministry building
at the center of a torture dispute. At least six people were killed and 43
injured in the blast near the Hamra hotel in the Jadriyah district,
officials said. [AP] |
The suicide attackers targeted the Sheik Murad mosque in Khanaqin, 90 miles
northeast of Baghdad, as dozens of people were attending prayers, police said.
Sixty-five people were wounded in addition to the 52 killed, Iraqi army Col.
Hazim al-Sudani said.
The blasts near the Hamra hotel in Baghdad knocked down the concrete walls
protecting the hotel and blew out windows but did no structural damage. However
it brought down several residential buildings and left a large crater in the
road. Firefighters and U.S. troops joined residents in digging through the
debris for victims.
It would be the second attack against a hotel housing international
journalists since the Oct. 24 triple vehicle bomb attack against the Palestine
Hotel, where The Associated Press, Fox News and other organizations live and
work.
"What we have here appears to be two suicide car bombs (that) attempted to
breach the security wall in the vicinity of the hotel complex, and I think the
target was the Hamra Hotel," U.S. Brig. Gen. Karl Horst told reporters at the
scene.
Gunfire followed the blasts, which came less than a minute apart and echoed
throughout downtown Baghdad. At first the target appeared to be an interior
ministry building where U.S. troops on Sunday found about 170 detainees, some of
whom appeared to have been tortured.
"The investigation is under way, but the initial reports indicate so far the
first car bomber was trying to pave the way for the second one, not on the main
road, but on a secondary road to get in and hit the Hamra hotel, not the
interior ministry," said Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, the deputy interior minister.
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