Wave of suicide blasts kills at least 25
Al-Zarqawi network claims responsibility on Web sites
Wednesday, January 19, 2005 Posted: 1334 GMT (2134 HKT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- In 90 minutes, four suicide car bombings Wednesday
killed at least 25 Iraqis in and around Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
The terrorist network led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has ties to al Qaeda,
claimed responsibility for the bombings in postings on several Islamist Web
sites.
The first bombing occurred at 7 a.m. (11 p.m. ET Tuesday) near the Australian
Embassy in southern Baghdad. The blast killed an Iraqi civilian and wounded
several others, including two Australian soldiers, according to a U.S. military
statement.
About 30 minutes later, another suicide car bombing hit near the al-Alahi
hospital in central Baghdad, killing 18 Iraqis -- including five police -- and
wounding at least 15 others, the statement said.
A third suicide attack about 8:15 a.m. occurred at a control point south of
Baghdad International Airport. The explosion killed two Iraqi security guards
and wounded three.
U.S. soldiers found and detonated another car bomb on the road leading to
Baghdad's airport, said Col. Mike Murray, commander of the 3rd Brigade, 1st
Cavalry.
About 15 minutes later, a fourth suicide attacker struck near the southern
checkpoint of the Al-Muthana airport, which is being used as an Iraqi Army
base. Four died in that attack -- two civilians and two soldiers -- the
statement said. A U.S. soldier was wounded.
Despite the loss of life, Murray said all of the suicide bombers failed to hit
their intended targets.
"Out of the four car bombs in Baghdad ... in every case, there was an Iraqi
soldier either from the Iraqi army or the Iraqi national guard or an Iraqi
policemen that prevented that car bomb from getting to its intended target,"
Murray said.
"As tragic as it is, there were some Iraqi security forces that paid the
ultimate sacrifice to protect their countrymen, the same way that they're going
to do on election day."
South of Baghdad, a car bomb detonated Wednesday morning about 12 miles (20 km)
north of Hilla, killing an Iraqi policeman and seriously wounding two others,
according to a news release from Multi-National Forces. The attack happened on
the route between al-Mahawil and al-Musayyb, the statement said.
Other developments
British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday described pictures of Iraqis
apparently being abused by British soldiers as "shocking and appalling." The
pictures, released by prosecutors at the court martial of three British
soldiers, were discovered when laboratory technicians phoned police after a
soldier took them to be developed. (Full story)
Authorities will not disclose the locations of polling places in Falluja and
other towns in al Anbar province until shortly before the January 30 election.
said U.S. Marine Lt. Gen. John Sattler. Polling locations will be opened near
most of the estimated half-million voting-age Iraqis living in the province.
But officials do not want to give insurgents time to plan attacks against
voters or polling places.
In advance of the election, Iraq's leadership plans to seal the nation's
borders to thwart any plans to disrupt voting. Closing Iraq's perimeter January
29 to 31 is one of the latest efforts to reduce risks to people planning to
cast ballots for a 275-member transitional national assembly.
A video of eight Chinese construction workers taken hostage in Iraq surfaced
Tuesday. The video shows the men holding opened passports as an Arabic speaker
demanded that the Chinese government declare it would not allow its citizens to
work for Americans in Iraq. (Full story)
A car bomb exploded Tuesday outside a Baghdad office of the Supreme Council for
the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, killing a guard who tried to stop the vehicle,
Iraqi police and a spokesman for the council said. Seven others sustained
injuries
CNN's Nermeen al-Mufti, Arwa Damon, Kianne Sadeq and Mohammed Tawfeeq
contributed to this report.
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