Samir Jawaad, 6, is treated Monday after a roadside bomb exploded in the Iraqi capital's Zafaraniya district.
Suicide truck blast kills 28, mostly children, in northern Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden truck into a village near the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar on Monday, killing at least 28 people and wounding 50 others, an Iraqi army official said.
At least 19 of those killed were children, Tal Afar Mayor Najim Abdullah al-Jabouri said.
The blast left a 10-foot crater in the ground and damaged 10 homes in the Shiite Turkmen village of Qubbak, about six miles (10 kilometers) northeast of Tal Afar, the army official told CNN.
In Baghdad, three roadside bombs detonated in various neighborhoods, killing at least 11 people and wounding 33 others, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry.
he deadliest of the blasts came in southeast Baghdad's Zafaraniya district, where eight people were killed and 16 were wounded.
Another bomb in the Ghadir neighborhood of southeastern Baghdad killed three people and wounded 11 others.
Political turmoil
Meanwhile, Cabinet ministers from the political party led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi boycotted a government meeting Monday, in the latest challenge to current Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's year-old coalition.
Iyad Jamal al-Deen, a member of parliament from Allawi's Iraqi National List, said the party's four ministers have not resigned from the government, as six members of the leading Sunni Arab party did last week.
But he said al-Maliki's government has yet to meet the demands Allawi's party made in February, including the passage of legislation that would allow former members of executed dictator Saddam Hussein's Baath Party to return to public life and other measures considered key to national reconciliation.
Allawi's list, composed of secular politicians from both the Sunni and Shiite communities, holds 25 seats in the 275-member Council of Representatives, Iraq's parliament.
It held five seats in al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated Cabinet when it took office, but Justice Minister Hashem al-Shibli resigned in March after complaining that sectarian and regional divisions were paralyzing the government.
The party still holds the state, communications, human rights and science and technology portfolios.
The boycott follows last Wednesday's withdrawal of the country's largest Sunni bloc, the Iraqi Accord Front, from al-Maliki's government. The group held six seats in the 39-member Cabinet, including a deputy prime minister's post.
The Sunni bloc has been critical of legislative stalemates and the government's failure to pass national reconciliation bills. In announcing its withdrawal, it said the "arrogance" of al-Maliki's government has prevented any meaningful reforms that could bring about a political settlement of the country's four-year insurgency and widespread sectarian warfare.
The Sunni bloc's departure was the second political walkout from the al-Maliki government. Six Cabinet ministers from the bloc of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr left the government earlier this year.
Al-Maliki has appointed acting ministers to replace al-Sadr's followers, but has not yet appointed replacements for the Sunni ministers. The country's top Sunni politician, Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, is staying in his post for the time being, and has told President Bush that he would keep his party engaged in the political process, his office said.
Other developments
• An explosion in Diyala province killed four U.S. soldiers and wounded 12 others Monday, the U.S. military said. The soldiers were part of the Army's Task Force Lightning, which has been battling insurgents around the provincial capital Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, since June. Another soldier died in Baghdad when a sophisticated roadside bomb known as an explosively formed penetrator hit his vehicle during combat on the city's west side, the U.S. command in Baghdad said. Monday's deaths bring the U.S. toll in Iraq to 3,668 since the March 2003. Seven Department of Defense contractors have also been killed.
• Iraq security forces found the bodies of five Iraqi soldiers Monday in the town of Sharqat, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of Tikrit, police said. The soldiers, dressed in civilian clothes, were on leave from a base in Mosul and were heading to Baghdad in a private car.
• Mortar rounds landed in the Sunni town of Dhuluiya on Monday, killing six people and wounding 16 others, police said. Dhuluiya is about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Baghdad.
• U.S. and Iranian diplomats held a third round of security talks Monday morning at al-Maliki's office in central Baghdad, an official with al-Maliki's office said. The U.S. and Iran have had no formal relations since 1980, but Iraq has twice hosted meetings between Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, and Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iranian ambassador to Iraq, to discuss security issues in the war-ravaged nation. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
Suicide Bomb Kills 28 in Northern Iraq
By HAMID AHMED 08.06.07, 12:29 PM ET
BAGHDAD -
A suicide bomber slammed his truck into a densely populated residential area in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar on Monday, killing at least 28 people, including 19 children, local authorities said.
The attack occurred in a crowded Shiite neighborhood of the religiously mixed city, about 250 miles northwest of Baghdad. The powerful blast caused houses to collapse in the morning as many families were getting ready for the day, and officials said the death toll could rise.
"Rescue teams are still searching for casualties among the rubble," said Ali Abbo, the head of the human rights committee.
The attacker drove a dump truck filled with explosives and covered with a layer of gravel, Brig. Gen. Najim Abdullah said, adding that at least 19 children were among the 28 killed. At least 40 others were wounded, said Brig. Gen. Rahim al-Jibouri, commander of Tal Afar police.
Abbo said the hospital in Tal Afar had been filled to capacity, forcing the ambulances to take many victims to Dahuk, about 45 miles to the north.
Several residents said the area is heavily populated, with four families sharing the same house in some cases, and boys and girls were playing hopscotch and marbles outside the houses at the time of the explosion.
Sheik Mohammed Qassim, 52, said the explosion shifted the furniture in his house and smashed all his windows.
"We rushed outside to see a big cloud of dust and smoke and shrapnel covering the street," he said, adding that a 16-foot-wide hole was left in the street. He said he and his neighbors then began searching for survivors in the rubble with their own hands.
Within an hour of the attack, authorities had imposed a curfew on the city, he said.
In Baghdad, meanwhile, lawmakers said that five Cabinet ministers loyal to Iraq's first post-Saddam leader will boycott government meetings, further deepening the political crisis that threatens to swamp the administration of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The boycott of the Iraqiya List ministers loyal to former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi leaves the government, at least temporarily, with no Sunni participants. It was a deep blow to al-Maliki's attempts to reconcile the country's majority Shiites and minority Sunnis and Kurds.
Iraqiya List lawmaker Iyad Jamal-Aldin said the Allawi bloc decided to boycott because al-Maliki has failed to respond to demands for political reform issued five months ago. He said the boycott was not tied to the decision last week by the top Sunni political bloc to pull its six ministers out of the 40-member Cabinet.
The Iraqi Accordance Front left the government Aug. 1 because of al-Maliki's failure to respond to a set of demands, including the release of security detainees not charged with specific crimes, the disbanding of militias and the participation of all groups represented in the government in dealing with security issues.
The latest boycott raises to 17 the number of government ministers who have either suspended membership or quit this year.
Also Monday, the United States and Iran held expert-level talks on security issues in Baghdad, more than two weeks after the ambassadors of the two archenemies agreed to establish a committee to discuss efforts to stabilize Iraq.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman, Lou Fintor, said the discussions were "frank and serious" and focused on the violence plaguing Iraq. "We agreed to continue our discussions at a date to be established through diplomatic channels," Fintor said.
Washington has accused Tehran of fueling the violence in Iraq by arming and training Shiite extremists, but it agreed during the July 24 ambassadorial talks to set up a security subcommittee to carry forward talks on restoring stability in the country.
Relations have been strained in recent months over Iran's nuclear program and support for radical militant groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas, as well as by U.S. military maneuvers in the Persian Gulf.
Tehran's detention of four Iranian-Americans for allegedly conspiring against the government has further deepened tensions. Washington has called for their release and says the charges against them are false.
Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the U.S. second in command, said Sunday that rogue Shiite militiamen with Iranian weapons and training launched 73 percent of the attacks that killed or wounded American forces last month in Baghdad, nearly double the figure six months earlier.
Tehran has denied U.S. allegations that it is fueling the violence in Iraq.
In other violence, a U.S. soldier was killed and two were wounded Sunday during fighting in eastern Baghdad, the military said. Eastern Baghdad is predominantly Shiite and has seen frequent attacks on U.S. forces by Shiite militia fighters.
Elsewhere, 60 bodies were found in a mainly Sunni area that had been under the control of al-Qaida in Iraq west of Baqouba, according to a Diyala provincial police official. U.S. and Iraqi forces recently have touted successes in an operation aimed at restoring control in the volatile region northeast of Baghdad.
At least 29 people were killed or found dead in other parts of Iraq, according to police who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to disclose the information.
Meanwhile, authorities girded for a major Shiite pilgrimage later this week in Baghdad to commemorate the 8th century death of Imam Moussa ibn Jaafar al-Kadhim, one of the 12 principal Shiite saints who is buried in a mosque in the northern neighborhood of Kazimiyah.
The procession was struck by tragedy in 2005, when thousands of pilgrims panicked by rumors of a suicide bomber broke into a stampede on a bridge, leaving some 1,000 dead. Police later said no explosives were found on the bridge and poor crowd control and the climate of fear in Iraq were largely to blame. Sunni insurgents have often targeted such gatherings to foment sectarian war.
Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, an Iraqi military spokesman for Baghdad, said security forces would intensify checkpoints during this week's pilgrimage and marchers would be banned from carrying weapons, cell phones and even bags. It was not clear those restrictions would be enforced.
Al-Moussawi said the government was also considering a driving ban but had not made a decision.
Associated Press Writer Sinan Salaheddin contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
Truck bomb kills 27, flattens buildings
Article from: Reuters
From correspondents in Baghdad
August 06, 2007 04:17pm
A TRUCK bomb in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar has killed 27 people and flattened several houses.
The attack occurred in a crowded Shi'ite neighbourhood of the mixed city, about 420km northwest of Baghdad.
At least 28 others were wounded in the attack, said Brigadier General Rahim al-Jibouri, commander of Tal Afar police told the Associated Press.
The attacker drove a dump truck filled with explosives and covered with a thin layer of construction materials, Brig-Gen al-Jibouri said.
As thousands of US and Iraqi security forces focus on pushing insurgents out of Baghdad and other flashpoint cities under a five-month-old security plan, militants have increasingly resorted to attacks in villages and outlying rural areas.
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