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| Iraq |
| Baghdad Blast Kills 14 (and puppies and brids) |
| 2007-01-26 |
| BAGHDAD, Iraq - A bomb hidden in a box carrying pigeons struck a crowded animal market in central Baghdad on Friday, killing at least 14 people and wounding dozens, officials and witnesses said. The explosive device was hidden in a box when it detonated at about 10 a.m. at the Souq al-Ghazl, which attracts buyers and sellers peddling birds, dogs, cats, sheep and goats and exotic animals such as snakes and monkeys. A witness said a man arrived with an egg carton containing pigeons for sale, but it exploded after he walked away to get a drink, tearing through the potential buyers gathering around the box. Raad Hassan, a frequent customer at the market, said he was about 60 yards away from where the blast occurred. "My friends and I rushed to the scene where we saw burned dead bodies, pieces of flesh and several dead expensive puppies and birds," he said. And 14 dead humans, but they're not expensive. Ali Nassir said dead animals were scattered on the blood-soaked ground and several snakes, monkeys and birds had been let loose from their cages as ambulances and police cars converged on the scene. "The policemen are firing in the air in order to disperse the crowds of people arriving to find out what happened to relatives who were missing," he said. "The explosion was huge and happened in a crowded place." An 18-year-old homing pigeon vendor who was wounded expressed frustration at the unrelenting violence in the capital. "I went this morning to the animal market to earn some money and to entertain myself, instead I was hit by the explosion and lost consciousness, my pigeons and my mobile phone," Sajad Abdel-Jabar said from his hospital bed. The al-Ghazl market, or Spinning Market, also was attacked in early June, when two bombings struck in quick succession, killing at least five people, as insurgents often strike commercial targets to maximize the casualties. The popular market stands on the eastern side of the Tigris River next to the famous 13th century Sunni Ulama Mosque that was built by the Abbasid dynasty. The shops around the mosque used to be for its spinning mills but the area transformed into an animal market a few decades ago. The shops are open all the week but vendors come on Friday and set up stalls on the 500-yard-long stretch of pavement on Jumhuri Street. |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #4 Bobby - for a minute there, the picture of brides waiting in stalls passed through my mind. Weird mind, I'll admit... |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-01-26 18:07 |
| #3 Umm...that's Puppies and Birds. But y'all figgered that out. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2007-01-26 10:48 |
| #2 The policemen are firing in the air in order to disperse the crowds Pardon me, but what idiots. Guns are not noisemakers. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2007-01-26 07:29 |
| #1 Maybe this will finally bring PETA and HSUS down against them. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2007-01-26 07:11 |