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| Iraq |
| Three car bombings kill 19 in western Iraq |
| 2009-10-12 |
| A series of car bombings killed 19 people in western Iraq on Sunday, in attacks that spotlight a surge in violence in Anbar province, once a hotbed of the insurgency that has since become a showcase for restoring peace. The province was the scene of some of the most intense fighting by US troops during the insurgency. The explosions on Sunday occurred in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province about 115 kilometres west of Baghdad. According to a local police official, a parked car exploded near the Anbar province police headquarters and the provincial council building. The second car bombing took place as police and bystanders rushed to the scene to help, while a third car exploded about an hour later at the gates to the Ramadi hospital, the police official said. One bystander, Musaab Ali Mohammed, said he was buying cigarettes from a nearby shop when he heard a big explosion and saw smoke billowing out from the parking lot. "I saw police cars and firefighters, and they started to carry out the wounded and dead. ... Minutes later, a second explosion took place," he said. Such explosions coming in quick succession are usually designed to target rescuers and security forces who rush to the scene to assist and were a hallmark of the insurgent group, Al Qaeda in Iraq, during the height of the insurgency. Sunday's attacks follow a bombing last week in another Anbar city, Fallujah, in which a car bomb tore through an open-air market, killing at least eight people. At least seven people were killed in late September in Ramadi when a suicide bomber slammed a tanker truck packed with explosives into a police outpost. Iraqi officials have portrayed such attacks as limited in nature and not an indication that the insurgency is regaining its footing. A member of the Anbar provincial council, Aeefan Sadoun, said Sunday's attacks "represent a limited security breach that will be fixed soon". He said the attacks do not indicate a significant deterioration in security in the once-volatile province. "The security situation in Anbar is good and al-Qaida will never be able to take over again," he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |