Shiite Neighborhoods Struck Hard in Baghdad

Mar 30, 10:17 AM

Current Headlines: By Kirk Semple

Qais Mizher and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times contributed from Mosul.

* A flurry of suicide bombings Thursday, including two that struck crowded markets during the busiest shopping hours of the week, killed at least 88 people and wounded at least 78, the authorities said. The bombings, which were directed against predominantly Shiite neighborhoods in central Iraq, appeared to be the latest attacks in a fierce campaign by Sunni insurgents to undermine the latest government security plan for Baghdad.

American commanders have said that as the Shiite militias have largely receded from view during the early stages of the plan's implementation, their biggest military challenge has become the need to stop such large-scale insurgent attacks against Shiite populations.

In the deadliest attack Thursday, a man wrapped in an explosives belt wandered into a crowded street market in the Shaab neighborhood of eastern Baghdad and detonated himself, killing at least 60 people, mostly women and children, and wounding 25, an Interior Ministry official said.

The attack was apparently timed to inflict the greatest number of casualties: It came after sundown on the eve of the Muslim day of rest, when markets are usually packed with shoppers trying to gather what they need for their day off.

Two hours earlier, a coordinated attack involving three suicide car bombers killed at least 28 people and wounded 53 in the predominantly Shiite town of Khalis, about 6 miles, or 10 kilometers, north of Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province, according to the authorities.

As people rushed to help victims of the first car bombing, a second suicide bomber detonated his car, killing and wounding rescuers and security forces, an official said. The third suicide bomber, who was driving a stolen ambulance, apparently had engine problems about 500 yards, or 450 meters, away from the central hospital, his apparent target, the police official said. When several people approached the man to help, the official said, he detonated his explosives.

The attacks came on the heels of an extraordinary two-day spate of sectarian bloodshed in the northern town of Tal Afar, during which a double suicide bombing in a Shiite neighborhood was answered by a Shiite massacre of Sunni residents. The violence killed more than 140 people, wounded at least 210 and resulted in the detentions of at least 12 police officers suspected of involvement in the killings.

An officer from the 3rd Division of the Iraqi Army in Mosul, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record, said that the police officers were released on Thursday.

In Baghdad, Ryan Crocker was sworn in as the new American ambassador to Iraq. At his swearing-in ceremony, in the Green Zone, Crocker said he was taking over the "most critical foreign policy mission" facing the United States.

(c) 2007 International Herald Tribune. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.