12/8/09
By Oliver August
Four car bombs exploded in Baghdad this morning in quick succession killing at least 112, according to the Iraqi police.
The bombs went off at locations across the city and were powerful enough to shake buildings ten miles away. Around 197 people are known to have been injured.
This is the third multi-car bomb attack in the Iraqi capital since August, all aimed at government buildings. The previous attacks have, however, involved two car bombs each and the latest comes two days after the Iraqi Parliament voted through new laws that cleared the way for new elections in February or March.
One of today’s bomb is said to have targeted a training academy for judges near the Al-Nidaa mosque in north-eastern Baghdad. There are also reports of an explosion near the Ministry of Interior.
Baghdad hospitals report the arrival of dozens of casualties and police said a part of northern Baghdad, Al-Waziriya, has been sealed off in the hunt for the suspected ringleaders.
The first explosion was heard at 10.25am local time with the rest following soon after. Sporadic gunfire then sounded and the sirens of emergency vehicles were also heard.
Violence across Iraq dropped dramatically last month, with the fewest deaths in attacks since the US-led invasion of 2003. Official figures showed a total of 122 people were killed in November.
However the Baghdad Government and the US military have warned of a rise in attacks in the run up to a general election expected to take place in February.
The threat of political violence linked to the election is a major concern for the Iraqi Government and US forces after bloody attacks in Baghdad in August and October that killed more than 250 people.
The attacks, including truck bombings outside the Finance, Foreign and Justice Ministries, punctured confidence in the Iraqi security forces. General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, said in November: “We believe that there will be an attempt to conduct more attacks between now and the election.”
UPDATE
12/8/09
At least 127 people have been killed and more than 400 others wounded in a series of bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, police say.
Two car bombs exploded near the labour and interior ministries, two more struck in central Baghdad, and another at a police patrol in Dora, in the south of the city.
The first explosion in central Baghdad was heard at 10.25 am (0725 GMT) on Tuesday, with a second blast within seconds and a third one a minute later.
Iraqiya television reported one of the blasts hit a market there.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks.
An interior ministry official said 12 of those killed in Dora were students at a nearby technical college.
The remaining three victims were policemen working at the checkpoint.
The Iraqi parliament held an emergency session to discuss the bombings. Many MPs have condemned the government’s handling of the security situation in the capital.
They also condemned the government for failing to provide a senior security minister to answer MPs’ questions.
‘Security infiltrated’
Tuesday’s bombings come two days after the Iraqi parliament passed a new electoral law paving the way for parliamentary elections on March 7, 2010.
Iraqi and US military officials have expressed concern about a possible spurt in attacks aimed at destabilising the government before next year’s polls.
Zeina Khodr, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Iraq, said the attacks are another embarrassment for the government.
“We just spoke to a high raking official who said he was worried that the security forces were infiltrated,” Khodr said.
“This is a blow to the security forces and prime minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is running for re-election on a platform that he has improved security across the country.
“Attacks have become part of daily life, not only in Baghdad, but across the country. Security is not only fragile, it is deteriorating.”
More violence
On Monday, eight people were killed when a bomb exploded at a school in Baghdad. The dead included six children, 41 people were wounded in the attack.
On the same day gunmen stormed a checkpoint near Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, killing five members of an anti-al-Qaeda group, police said.
The men were members of the Sunni Awakening Council, one of many Sunni groups that have begun taking on al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The US has 115,000 soldiers in Iraq, but that figure will drop to 50,000 next year as all of its combat troops are pulled out before a complete withdrawal by the end of 2011.
I assume the folks in Afghanistan and Pakistan are getting the message………how long will their buildings, new society, leadership last……..
there is no fear in this group – we are perceived as weak and ready to back out.