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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Baghdad suicide bombing kills 11 |
| 2004-09-22 |
| A suspected suicide car bomber struck on Wednesday in a crowded commercial street in Baghdad, killing at least 11 people, as scores of men wanting to join Iraq's security forces queued up to photocopy their documents. The blast destroyed several storefronts and an ice cream stall. Dozens were wounded by shrapnel. Scores of sandals and shoes lay in pools of blood on the pavement. Iraqis covered burned flesh lying on the ground with store banners torn down by the explosion. Officials at Baghdad's Yarmuk hospital said 11 bodies were brought in from the blast site. Insurgents have repeatedly targeted Iraqis queuing up to apply to join the police and National Guard. Last week, a suicide car bomb attack on a queue of recruits outside a Baghdad police station killed 47 people. At the scene of Wednesday's blast, glass from shop and car windows littered the street, overhead cables were severed and chunks of twisted metal were scattered across the area. U.S. soldiers riding armored vehicles cordoned off the area and firefighters doused water on burning cars. At least 10 cars were destroyed, one of them flipped upside down. "I was just standing here talking and then I heard two huge explosions," said Humam Abdul-Hadi, who owns an electrical goods store near the bomb site. He said an ice cream restaurant had taken the brunt of the blast. "I don't even know who they were targeting," said Abdul-Hadi, who had shrapnel wounds to the face and neck and blood spattered on his T-shirt. "They just bombed people eating ice cream." Police officer Ameer Sattar said he was nearby when the bomber struck. "When we turned into the street, we saw a car explode. There were more than 300 people here, it was so crowded," he said. Mohamed Naim Hanoun, 43, said he no longer wanted to join Iraq's security forces. "I am not going to try to volunteer again. It is not worth it. I don't want their money," he said. "After what I saw, there is no money that could get me back my life if I lost it." He said he had been talking to a friend when the bomb detonated. "I saw some of the people flung through the air and then falling down, and then some started screaming," Hanoun said. "A young man was crying 'I don't want to die'. But then two minutes later, he did." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 It sounds brutal, but this is a good filtering mechanism. The Iraqis who join up will know the score beforehand. Only the ones who are in it to kill the guerrillas will sign up. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-09-22 5:42:43 PM |
| #2 According to LLL dhimmis, each civilian death caused by the United States (real and imaginary) results in a number of people joining the terrorists to fight against us, 10 or 12 per head seems to be the authoritative number of choice. Why then does each terrorist outrage not likewise inspire dozens or hundreds to join us in massacring the terrorists? Why, indeed, do the terrorists themselves not recognize the inexorable logic of their appeasement lobby and desist from their atrocities? |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-09-22 5:11:44 PM |
| #1 Ok, this is a horrible story, and I hear similar ones it all the time, but what stands out is the ice cream restaurant. If conditions in Iraq are getting worse, how come people still have the money and leisure time to buy ice cream? They obviously feel safe enough to saunter out of their homes to buy luxury goods. Also, if the power is dodgey, how are they keeping the stuff frozen? |
| Posted by: Debbie 2004-09-22 3:35:02 PM |