Suicide car bomber kills 27 Shi'ite pilgrims in Iraq

أفاد مصدر في شرطة محافظة بابل، الخميس، بأن 60 شخصا على الاقل سقطوا بين قتيل وجريح في التفجير الذي استهدف زوار الأربعينية شمال المحافظة. وقال المصدر في حديث لـ"السومرية نيوز"، إن "حصيلة انفجار السيارة المفخخة التي استهدفت زوار الأربعينية وسط قضاء المسيب شمال بابل، بلغت مقتل 25 شخصا وإصابة 35 آخرين بجروح متفاوتة غالبيتهم زوار من أهالي العاصمة بغداد". وأضاف المصدر الذي طلب عدم الكشف عن اسمه أن "قوة أمنية طوقت مكان الحادث ومنعت الاقتراب منه، فيما هرعت سيارات الإسعاف لنقل الجرحى إلى مستشفى قريب لتلقي العلاج، وجثث القتلى إلى دائرة الطب العدلي". وكان مصدر في شرطة محافظة بابل أفاد، في وقت سابق من اليوم الخميس (3 كانون الثاني 2013)، بأن عدداً من الأشخاص سقطوا بين قتيل وجريح بتفجير سيارة مفخخة استهدفت الزوار العائدين من كربلاء قرب تقاطع مركز شرطة التحرير بقضاء المسيب شمال بابل. وتعد زيارة الأربعين واحدة من أهم المناسبات الدينية للمسلمين الشيعة، ويحرص الآلاف منهم على إحيائها من خلال الذهاب إلى كربلاء مشياً على الأقدام، في حين تنتشر آلاف المواكب والهيئات على الطرق المؤدية إلى المدينة لإيواء الزائرين وتقديم الطعام لهم، وقد استهدفت الجماعات المسلحة في الأعوام السابقة، الزوار في الطرق المؤدية إلى كربلاء بسيارات مفخخة وعبوات ناسفة. يذكر أن محافظة بابل، ومركزها مدينة الحلة 100 كم جنوب العاصمة بغداد، تتمتع باستقرار نسبي، إلا أن مناطق شمال المحافظة ما تزال تشهد حركة للمسلحين، الذين يقومون بين فترة وأخرى بأعمال عنف تستهدف المدنيين والقوات الأمنية. الخميس 03 ك2 2013 امن العراق 18:35 هيلاري كلينتون تامل في استئناف عملها الاسبوع المقبل 17:51 القبض على عصابة لتزوير العملة في صلاح الدين واعتقال ... 16:46 ميلان يغادر ارض الملعب بسبب هتافات عنصرية ضد بواتنغ 16:27 إصابة عشرة أشخاص على الأقل بتفجير عبوة ناسفة استهدفت ... 15:48 عرب كركوك: نؤيد حق التظاهر ومن يقف ضد إرادة الشعب خائن ... 15:07 العلاقات الإماراتية المصرية على حافة الهاوية على ... إصابة عشرة أشخاص على الأقل بتفجير عبوة ناسفة استهدفت حافلتين للزوار شرق بغداد المحرر: GS الخميس 03 ك2 2013 16:27 GMT السومرية نيوز/ بغداد أفاد مصدر في الشرطة العراقية، الخميس، بأن عشرة أشخاص على الأقل أصيبوا بتفجير عبوة ناسفة استهدفت حافلتين لنقل الزوار شرق بغداد. وقال المصدر في حديث لـ"السومرية نيوز"، إن "عبوة ناسفة كانت مزروعة على جانب طريق في منطقة بغداد الجديدة شرق بغداد انفجرت، مساء اليوم، لدى مرور حافلتين لنقل الزوار العائدين من كربلاء، مما أسفر عن إصابة عشرة منهم على الأقل بجروح". وأضاف المصدر الذي طلب عدم الكشف عن اسمه، أن "سيارات الإسعاف هرعت إلى مكان التفجير لنقل المصابين إلى مستشفى قريب لتلقي العلاج". يذكر أن العاصمة بغداد ومحافظات أخرى تشهد منذ شهر آذار الماضي، تصعيداً بأعمال العنف أودت بحياة المئات بينهم عدد من الضباط ومسؤولون حكوميون. Suicide car bomber kills 27 Shi'ite pilgrims in Iraq Thu, Jan 03 12:29 PM EST HILLA, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber driving a car killed at least 27 Shi'ite Muslims at a bus station in the Iraqi town of Mussayab on Thursday, police and medics said, as they were gathering to return home from a religious rite. The attack, which also wounded at least 60, underlines sectarian tensions that threaten to further destabilize the country a year after U.S. troops left. Police said the bomber drove into a busy bus station where pilgrims were catching buses back to Baghdad and the northern provinces after the Arbain rite in the holy city of Kerbala, where thousands make an annual pilgrimage. Mussayab is 60 km (40 miles) south of the capital Baghdad. "I was getting a sandwich when a very strong explosion rocked the place and the blast threw me away. When I regained my senses and stood up, I saw dozens of bodies," said Ali Sabbar, a pilgrim who witnessed the explosion. "Many cars were set on fire. I just left the place and didn't even participate in the evacuation of the victims." Arbain has been a frequent target for militants since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein, who banned Shi'ite festivals. A roadside bomb targeting a minibus transporting Shi'ite pilgrims back from Kerbala also wounded 8 people in New Baghdad. The latest violence followed nearly two weeks of protests against Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by thousands of people from the minority Sunni community in the western province of Anbar, which shares a border with Syria. The protesters accuse Maliki of being under the sway of non-Arab Shi'ite neighbor Iran and of marginalizing Sunnis, who dominated Iraq until the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. They want Maliki to abolish anti-terrorism laws they say are used to persecute them. The conflict in neighboring Syria, where a Sunni majority is fighting to topple government backed by Shi'ite Iran, is also whipping up sectarian sentiment in Iraq and the wider region. Although violence is far lower than during the sectarian slaughter of 2006-2007, a total of 4,471 civilians died last year in what one rights group described as a "low-level war" with insurgents. No group claimed responsibility for Thursday's attacks, but Iraq is home to several Sunni insurgent groups including a local branch of al Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq, which often targets Shi'ites, seeking to re-ignite sectarian strife. At least 23 people were killed and 87 wounded in attacks across Iraq on Monday. (Reporting by Ali al-Rubaie; Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Louise Ireland) ============== Al Qaeda claims assassination of Sunni lawmaker in Iraq Mon, Jan 21 04:24 AM EST BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate said it had carried out a suicide bomb attack that killed a Sunni Muslim lawmaker last week as he toured a construction site in the westerly Anbar province, where Sunnis have been protesting against the government for three weeks. Members of the Sunni minority accuse the Shi'ite-led government of marginalizing them, and the wave of protests has raised fears that the OPEC country could again slide into widespread sectarian conflict. The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), an umbrella group for al Qaeda-linked Sunni insurgents, said it was responsible for the assassination of Efan al-Esawi, describing him as the "dog of the Americans" and the "tail of the Shi'ites". Esawi was one of the architects of the Sahwa tribal resistance that helped to subdue al Qaeda-linked insurgents battling U.S. troops in the Sunni heartland of Anbar at the height of the conflict of the last decade. Posing as a worker, the attacker hugged Efan al-Esawi before detonating an explosive vest, killing them both on the spot. "He insisted on his disbelief, treachery and war against Muslims ... until he died at the hands of the mujahideen in his current state, to be an example and a lesson for those after him," the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group quoted ISI as saying in a statement on Sunday. The ISI also claimed responsibility for other attacks in Anbar province and across the country, without giving details. On Wednesday more than 35 people died in a suicide bomb attack and other bombings in northern Iraq and Baghdad. Al Qaeda's Iraqi branch also voiced support for the Sunni protests and said it was fighting to "cut off the vein that is extending the life of the criminal Nusayri regime to kill your brothers in the Levant". In neighboring Syria, mainly Sunni rebels are fighting President Bashar al-Assad, most of whose ruling establishment are members of the Shi'ite-derived Alawite or Nusayri sect, adding to the strain on Iraq's own delicate sectarian and ethnic balance. Sunni anti-government protests erupted in Iraq in late December after state officials arrested members of a Sunni finance minister's security team on terrorism charges. Authorities denied the arrests were political, but Sunni leaders saw them as a crackdown. Since the fall of Sunni strongman Saddam Hussein after the U.S.-led invasion, many Sunnis feel they have been marginalised by the Shi'ite leadership. Violence in Iraq is well down since the height of sectarian bloodletting in 2006-2007. But last year saw a rise in violent deaths for the first time in three years, with more than 4,400 people killed. (Reporting by Aseel Kami; Editing by Isabel Coles and Kevin Liffey) =============== Two blasts, suicide attack kill 17 in Baghdad Tue, Jan 22 06:03 AM EST BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three blasts, including a suicide bomber attack near an army base, killed least 17 people across Baghdad on Tuesday, the latest violence as Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki faces increasing pressure from a political crisis. The most deadly explosions took place in Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, where a suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives detonated his bomb near an army base, killing at least seven people and wounding 24. Another parked car bomb exploded in a crowded market in the Shi'ite neighborhood of Shula, northwestern Baghdad, killing 5 people and wounded 13, police and hospital sources said. In Mahmudiya, a town 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, a car bomb attack near an army checkpoint killed five people, including two soldiers and wounded 14 more, including four soldiers. Violence in Iraq has eased since the widespread sectarian carnage of 2006-2007, but Sunni Islamist insurgents still launch frequent attacks, seeking to reignite confrontation between the Shi'ite majority, Sunni Muslims and ethnic Kurds. Shi'ite premier Maliki's government is trying to ease mass Sunni protests that erupted a month ago and his central government is also locked in a dispute with the country's autonomous Kurdistan region over control of oilfields. (Reporting by Kareem Raheem and Ahmeed Rasheed; writing by Patrick Markey) ===============