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Truck blast kills more than 75 in Baghdad

Atul Aneja

Mosque was the target; tensions running high in Iraq’s oil-rich south

— PHOTO: AFP

GROWING UNREST: People gather at the site where a truck bomb exploded outside a Shia mosque in central Baghdad on Tuesday.

DUBAI: A week after the attack on a revered Shia shrine in Samarra in Iraq, sectarian violence has continued to gather momentum with at least 75 persons dying in a truck bombing of a Shia mosque in Baghdad.The massive blast targeted Baghdad’s Khillani mosque on Tuesday, soon after worshippers were leaving following afternoon prayers. The explosion destroyed the main prayer hall. The green dome of the mosque however remained intact.Rescue workers pulled bodies out of cars that were destroyed outside the mosque and the rubble that had accumulated.

The dead and wounded were taken to five hospitals in the city. Thick grey smoke and dust surrounded the area and wails of women numbed by the tragedy were pervasive. The Imam of the mosque, Sheikh Saleh al-Haidari, said “the attack was planned and carried out by sick souls”.

The targeting of the Al-Askari shrine in Samarra on June 13 has triggered a fresh spiral of sectarian violence in Iraq.

Several Sunni mosques have been attacked in retaliation during the past week, especially in Shia strongholds in the south.

The violence has picked up despite a call by Shia cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr for restraint following the attack in Samarra. However, Mr. Al-Sadr has called upon his followers to march to Samarra next month to protest against attacks on Iraq’s historic monuments.Meanwhile, tensions are running high in Iraq’s oil-rich south. British troops and Iraqi Special Forces have been battling fighters loyal to Mr. Al-Sadr’s Mehdi army in several locations, including Amhara. Medical staff said 36 bodies had already been brought to Amhara’s main hospital, amid fears that more than 50 persons had been killed. The British have launched a security sweep in the area apparently to block the flow of weapons into Iraq from neighbouring Iran.In tandem with the British assault in the south, nearly 10,000 American troops have launched a fresh attack in central Iraq’s troubled Diyala province. Analysts point out that the operation could result in heavy casualties. So far, 3,520 American troops have been killed since the U.S. invasion of the country in March 2003.

AP reports:

Al-Qaida has proven to be an extremely agile foe for U.S. and Iraqi forces, as shown by its ability to transfer major operations to Diyala’s provincial capital of Baqouba from Anbar province, the sprawling desert region in western Iraq.

There is no guarantee that driving the organisation out of current sanctuaries would prevent it from migrating to other regions to continue the fight.

The death toll in sectarian violence Monday skyrocketed after a brief period of relative peace.

The operations on Baghdad’s flanks were opened by the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, which has taken over dangerous Al-Qaeda-infested regions to the south. The division began its drive into the Salman Pak and Arab Jabour districts on the city’s southeastern fringe over the weekend.

The U.S. military said in a statement fighter jets dropped “four precision-guided bombs” in support of 1,200 U.S. soldiers from the 3rd Infantry as they started moving on Al-Qaeda targets.

Military officials said Multi-National Division-North forces likewise were increasing pressure on Al-Qaeda sanctuaries northeast of the capital in the verdant orange and palm groves of Diyala, now one of the most fiercely contested regions in Iraq.

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