Iraq - suicide attacks

Dozens killed in Iraq in double suicide bombing, Baghdad blast

Article published on the 2009-07-09 Latest update 2009-07-09 14:51 TU

(Map: RFI)

At least 42 people were killed and 60 were wounded when two bombers blew themselves up in a double suicide attack Thursday in northern Iraq. In Baghdad, two car bombs killed five people at a morning market. These are the deadliest attacks since the US military pulled out of Iraqi cities on 30 June.

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up minutes apart at a house in Tal Afar used as an annexe to a court set up to interrogate suspects in “terrorist attacks”, police Colonel Khaled Omar told the AFP news agency.

Tal Afar, between Mosul and the Syrian border, is a mostly Turkmen town which has been the target of attacks in the past.

In a separate attack, two car bombs went off in a market in Baghdad’s Sadr City Thursday morning, killing six people.

A roadside bomb targeting the convoy of the Iraqi Central Bank's governor, meanwhile, killed one civilian and wounded five people, including two members of the security forces, in the Karrada business district of Baghdad. The governor was unhurt.

On Wednesday two car bombs killed 12 people in Mosul and wounded dozens of others

These bombings come just a week after US troops left Iraq’s cities, the first step in a complete operational military withdrawal by the end of next year.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had warned that violence was likely to increase after the pullout, to undermine Iraqi security forces taking over from the US military.

British journalist Patrick Cockburn, however, told RFI that people should not read too much into the timing of the bomb attacks.

"I don't think the withdrawal of the Americans really affects this," he said.

"I think the people notice these bose bombs more because the Americans are withdrawing and Iraq is getting more prominent coverage in the press.

"But, unfortunately, this type of bomb, particularly suicide bombs, directed at civilian targets is pretty well impossible to stop whether it is against American or Iraqi security forces. You can perhaps limit the number that get through but you can't stop them.

"Al Qaeda in Iraq is less string than it was a couple of years ago but it's never been out of business."