Posted on 11/18/2005 10:39:57 AM PST by SJackson
Suicide bombers killed 52 worshippers at a mosque in western Iraq on Friday, while in Baghdad two car bombs killed eight Iraqis and destroyed the blast wall protecting a hotel housing foreign journalists.
The suicide attackers targeted the Sheik Murad Shi'ite mosque in Khanaqin, 140 kilometers (87 miles) northeast of Baghdad, as dozens of people were attending Friday prayers, police said. Iraqi army Col. Hazim al-Sudani said 52 people were killed and 65 injured in the largely Kurdish town.
The blast near the Hamra hotel in Baghdad knocked down the blast walls protecting the hotel and blew out windows, but did no structural damage.
"What we have here appears to be two suicide car bombs (that) attempted to breach the security wall in the vicinity of the hotel complex and I think the target was the Hamra Hotel," US Brig.-Gen. Karl Horst told reporters at the scene.
The blasts - which took place less than a minute apart - reverberated throughout the city center, sent a mushroom cloud hundreds of feet into the air and was followed by sporadic small arms fire. At first, the target appeared to be an Interior Ministry building nearby where US troops found about 170 detainees, some of whom appeared to be tortured.
Several residential buildings collapsed from the blast, which gouged a large crater in the road. Firefighters and US troops joined neighbors to dig through the debris and under toppled blast barriers to pull victims from the rubble.
The blasts appear to be the second attack against a hotel housing international journalists since the Oct. 24 triple vehicle bomb attack against the Palestine Hotel, where The Associated Press, Fox News and other organizations live and work.
"The investigation is under way, but the initial reports indicate so far the first car bomber was trying to pave the way for the second one, not on the main road, but on a secondary road to get in and hit the Hamra hotel, not the interior ministry," Maj.-Gen. Hussein Kamal, the deputy interior minister, said.
Saad al-Ezi, an Iraqi journalist with the Boston Globe, said from inside Hamra hotel that it was clearly the target.
"They were trying to penetrate by displacing the blast barriers behind the hotel and then get to the hotel," he said. "I woke up to a huge explosion which broke all the glass and displaced all the window and doors frames."
On Thursday, the Iraqi detainee abuse scandal continued to dominate Iraqi politics. A leader of a major Sunni party, Tariq al-Hashimi, told Iraq's Sharqiyah television that his group had submitted 50 complaints of prisoner abuse to the government "but we did not receive a timely response."
However, Interior Minister Bayn Jabr, a Shi'ite, brushed aside the complaints, denied sectarian bias and claimed that "every time" al-Hashimi has differences with him "he exerts pressure on me through the US Embassy."
"I reject torture and I will punish those who perform torture," Jabr said. "No one was beheaded, no one was killed" - a clear reference to the beheadings of foreign and Iraqi hostages by insurgents including al-Qaida's Iraq wing.
He also said "those who are supporting terrorism are making the exaggerations" about torture and that only seven detainees showed signs of abuse.
In a statement Thursday, the US Embassy said Iraqi authorities had given assurances that they will investigate the conditions of detainees found Sunday night and that the abuse of prisoners "will not be tolerated by either the Iraqi government" or US-led forces anywhere in the country.
"We have made clear to the Iraqi government that there must not be militia or sectarian control or direction of Iraqi security forces, facilities or ministries," the US statement added.
US officials have refused to say how many detainees showed signs of torture and whether most were Sunnis, pending completion of an Iraqi investigation.
Prominent Sunni Arabs have complained for months about abuse by Interior Ministry forces, which they claim had been infiltrated by Shi'ite militias. The Sunnis called for an international investigation after the Jadriyah detainees were found.
The government denies the militia allegations.
Also on Friday, insurgents attacked US and Iraqi troops in western Iraq, triggering fire fights that left 32 insurgents dead, a US military statement said.
One US Marine and an Iraqi soldier suffered minor injuries during the attack, the US forces said. Most of the fighting took place around a mosque.
"Marines reported that they received sustained small arms fire originating from the mosque," the statement said. "A nearby US Army outpost also reported receiving enemy fire from the area surrounding the mosque."
The US forces estimated that at least 50 insurgents took part in the coordinated attack, which quickly dissipated when the Iraqi and US forces returned fire, the military said. Iraqi troops entered the mosque and found spent ammunition.
Are they running out of Jooooooooooooooos to blame?
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We have made clear to the Iraqi government that there must not be militia or sectarian control or direction of Iraqi security forces, facilities or ministries…Prominent Sunni Arabs have complained for months about abuse by Interior Ministry forces, which they claim had been infiltrated by Shi'ite militias.
Given the US demand for terrorist participation in the PA, I don’t see why any militia group should take that statement seriously.
I hold that gasbag responsible for the murder of Mary Jo Kopechne.
Sorry, wrong thread, must have more coffee..
'sok. There's never a wrong thread to post that...
Anyone heard where this firefight took place?
First seeing this.
Of course, that will not stop the pessimist brigade from whining about how we never attack mosques...
One US Marine and an Iraqi soldier suffered minor injuries during the attack, the US forces said. Most of the fighting took place around a mosque.
Baghdad Mayor Is Ousted by a Shiite Group and Replaced, 08/10/05
snips:
Armed men entered Baghdad's municipal building during a blinding dust storm on Monday, deposed the city's mayor and installed a member of Iraq's most powerful Shiite militia. The deposed mayor, Alaa al-Tamimi, who was not in his offices at the time, recounted the events in a telephone interview on Tuesday and called the move a municipal coup d'état. He added that he had gone into hiding for fear of his life. "This is the new Iraq," said Mr. Tamimi, a secular engineer with no party affiliation. "They use force to achieve their goal." The group that ousted him insisted that it had the authority to assume control of Iraq's capital city and that Mr. Tamimi was in no danger. The man the group installed, Hussein al-Tahaan, is a member of the Badr Organization, the armed militia of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, known as Sciri.
Khanaqin, where the mosques were attacked, is an interesting town. It's a mostly-Kurd town (but with arab Shia and Sunnis) in an area outside of "Kurdistan". In fact, the Kurds are lobbying to get boundaries moved so Khanaqin is in Kurdish controlled areas. It's near the Iran border and along ancient smuggling routes being used by Iran-based agents to send support to terrorists. Several other unique issues. There are any number of groups who might have had adequate motivation to conduct these attacks.
The "Religion of Peace" continues spreading "peace" to their fellow Muslims.
A hot steaming load. The investigation should be reopened.
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