Baghdad: University bombings kill 70
A DOUBLE bombing has killed 70 people and wounding 170 more at a Baghdad university, including teachers and many students blown up while waiting for cars to take them home, in the deadliest attack this year in Iraq.
Around 100 people were killed throughout the capital during the day, but the blasts at the Mustansiriyah University in the city's east were the deadliest.
A police source said a car bomb exploded near the main gate of the university in an area where students wait for minibuses and cars to pick them up to go home. A suicide bomber then blew himself up near a second gate to the university as people fled the first explosion.
The blasts left a number of nearby cars completely burnt and many bodies charred in parked vehicles, witnesses have said. More bodies lay in the street, their mobile telephones ringing unanswered.
The dead and wounded were rushed to city hospitals in bed sheets, blankets, stretchers and a number of pick-up trucks.
“The majority of those killed are female students who were on their way home,” an official at the historic university's media office said.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed Saddam loyalists and Muslim extremists for the brutal attack.
"The horrendous crime was planned by a hopeless group of Saddamists and extremists," he said.
"They have committed an ugly crime against innocent students and we vow the perpetrators will not go free."
The university official said the head of the university, Takki Moussawi, had cancelled classes for two days.
“There is no way people could sit and study. There's glass everywhere and the doors were blown out,” the official said.
The Iraqi Government is preparing to launch a major security crackdown in the capital. Yesterday, two of Saddam Hussein's aides were executed, fuelling anger among Sunni Arabs.
Founded in the 13th century, Mustansiriyah University was attended by Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, one of those executed.
The day after Saddam's execution at the end of December there were a series of bombings in Shiite areas.
At least 25 people were killed by four other bombs around the city on Tuesday, including a twin attack in one location.
In the twin bombing, a roadside bomb followed by a blast from a motorcycle rigged with explosives killed 15 people and wounded 70 near a Sunni mosque in Khilani in central Baghdad, an interior ministry source said.
Earlier in another central Baghdad area, Karrada, police had just succeeded in defusing a roadside bomb when another bomb exploded, killing four people, including two police. Another car bomb in Sadr City, a Shiite militia stronghold, killed six.
Ten more people were killed in a drive-by shooting in Binoog, a mixed neighbourhood not far from Mustansiriya.
The UN said more than 34,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in violence last year.
- Reuters and AFPAround 100 people were killed throughout the capital during the day, but the blasts at the Mustansiriyah University in the city's east were the deadliest.
A police source said a car bomb exploded near the main gate of the university in an area where students wait for minibuses and cars to pick them up to go home. A suicide bomber then blew himself up near a second gate to the university as people fled the first explosion.
The blasts left a number of nearby cars completely burnt and many bodies charred in parked vehicles, witnesses have said. More bodies lay in the street, their mobile telephones ringing unanswered.
The dead and wounded were rushed to city hospitals in bed sheets, blankets, stretchers and a number of pick-up trucks.
“The majority of those killed are female students who were on their way home,” an official at the historic university's media office said.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed Saddam loyalists and Muslim extremists for the brutal attack.
"The horrendous crime was planned by a hopeless group of Saddamists and extremists," he said.
"They have committed an ugly crime against innocent students and we vow the perpetrators will not go free."
The university official said the head of the university, Takki Moussawi, had cancelled classes for two days.
“There is no way people could sit and study. There's glass everywhere and the doors were blown out,” the official said.
The Iraqi Government is preparing to launch a major security crackdown in the capital. Yesterday, two of Saddam Hussein's aides were executed, fuelling anger among Sunni Arabs.
Founded in the 13th century, Mustansiriyah University was attended by Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, one of those executed.
The day after Saddam's execution at the end of December there were a series of bombings in Shiite areas.
At least 25 people were killed by four other bombs around the city on Tuesday, including a twin attack in one location.
In the twin bombing, a roadside bomb followed by a blast from a motorcycle rigged with explosives killed 15 people and wounded 70 near a Sunni mosque in Khilani in central Baghdad, an interior ministry source said.
Earlier in another central Baghdad area, Karrada, police had just succeeded in defusing a roadside bomb when another bomb exploded, killing four people, including two police. Another car bomb in Sadr City, a Shiite militia stronghold, killed six.
Ten more people were killed in a drive-by shooting in Binoog, a mixed neighbourhood not far from Mustansiriya.
The UN said more than 34,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in violence last year.
January 17, 2007 08:32am
Comments
Nothing about this in
LA
Jason Muller
We are a killers
now for the world!
Peggy, ALABAMA
de Irak no le importa a nadie
GUSTAVO ALONSO QUERALES QUITO