BAGHDAD, Iraq - Car bombs and
a rocket barrage struck a crowded predominantly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad
late Sunday, killing at least 47 people and wounding at least 148, authorities
said.
The attack on the Zafraniyah neighborhood in southern Baghdad began about
7:15 p.m. with two car bombs and a barrage of an estimated nine rockets, Defense
Ministry spokesman Col. Saddoun Abu al-Ula said.
He said the barrage heavily damaged three buildings, including a multistory
apartment house that collapsed. Al-Ula said the rockets appeared to have been
fired from Dora, one of the mostly Sunni districts targeted by U.S. troops in a
new security crackdown against sectarian violence in the capital.
Police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said 47 people were killed and 148 were wounded.
The complex style of the assault was similar to a July 27 attack of mortars,
rockets and car bombs on another mostly Shiite district, Karradah, which killed
31 people. Police said the rockets and mortars that struck Karradah also were
fired from Dora.
A Sunni extremist group, the al-Sahaba Soldiers, claimed responsibility for
the Karradah attack to punish Shiites for supporting the "crusaders," or
Americans, and the "treacherous" Iraqi government.
Muhanna Yassin, who lives in Zafraniyah, said the attack left the
neighborhood "a total mess" with "bodies of the dead and injured scattered
around in the streets - old, young, women and children."
"The ground shook underneath us and there was chaos everywhere," he said in a
telephone interview. "Everyone was dazed and confused, looking for their
families. Some children and grown-ups were crying. I can't even begin describing
their state."
He said many of the victims were cut by flying glass and debris, leaving
parts of the streets soaked in blood. Iraqi state television reported that some
victims may be trapped in the rubble of the apartment building.
The multiple attacks were part of the grisly pattern of Sunni-Shiite violence
that American officials consider the greatest threat to Iraq's stability more
than three years after the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's regime.
U.S. commanders are sending nearly 12,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers into the
capital to curb the surge of sectarian violence, which was described by the U.S.
ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, on Sunday as "the principal problem here."
"I believe that the sectarian violence is serious. I believe the Iraqis have
overcome challenges before ... and they can overcome this as well," Khalilzad
said on CNN.
Earlier Sunday, the U.S. command announced that soldiers of the 2nd Brigade,
101st Airborne Division had arrested a key terrorist cell leader who was
"directly linked" to the July 17 attack on an outdoor market in Mahmoudiya,
about 20 miles south of Baghdad.
The statement said the arrest was made Thursday but did not give the
suspect's name. Gunmen believed to be Sunnis opened fire on shoppers and vendors
in the Mahmoudiya market during last month's attack, killing at least 51 people
and wounding more than 70. Most of the victims were Shiites.
On Friday, U.S. soldiers arrested 60 Sunni men including members of an
al-Qaida-affiliated cell that "specializes in bomb making" and carried out car
bomb attacks in the capital, the U.S. command said.
Sectarian tensions have been rising following the Feb. 22 bombing at a Shiite
shrine in Samarra, which triggered a wave of reprisal attacks against Sunni
mosques and clerics. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have fled their homes since
then, seeking refuge in areas where their Muslim sect is in the majority.
Much of the violence has been blamed on sectarian militias and armed groups
that target members of the rival religious community. Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki, a Shiite, has promised to disband the militias, some of which are
linked to figures in his own government.
On Sunday, Health Minister Ali al-Shemari, a member of a Shiite group that
operates a militia, said American soldiers arrested seven of his bodyguards in a
pre-dawn raid on his office.
"There was no legal warrant, there was no prior warning to the ministry,
there was no reason to arrest them. It is a provocation," said al-Shemari, a
member of the movement led by radical Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, head of
the biggest Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army.
However, a U.S. military statement said coalition forces received a tip from
a resident that "15 criminals wearing Iraqi army uniforms" had kidnapped six
people and taken them to the Ministry of Health building.
Iraqi and U.S. soldiers searched the building and did not find any kidnap
victims. But five detainees were taken in for questioning "based on their
positive identification by the tipster," the statement said, without
elaborating.
It was not clear if the raid was linked to the June disappearance of a Sunni
provincial health official, Dr. Ali al-Mahdawi, who vanished after a meeting
with the minister. Sunnis claimed al-Mahdawi was kidnapped by Shiite militiamen.
Al-Shemari denied any knowledge of al-Mahdawi's disappearance and said he had
interviewed him for a senior post in the ministry.
Politicians from several factions, meanwhile, said Shiite and Kurdish parties
are organizing a bid to oust the Sunni speaker of parliament.
Since taking office May 20, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani has made a number of
statements that offended key constituencies, including speaking out against
regional self-rule, strongly supported by Shiites and Kurds but opposed by many
Sunni Arabs.
Al-Mashhadani's ouster, which could be done by a new vote in parliament,
would be the first major shake-up in the government of national unity.
Al-Mashhadani would likely be replaced by another Sunni Arab if the move against
him succeeds.
