பாக்தாதில் 33 ஷியாக்கள் 5 குண்டுவெடிப்புகளில் சுவனம் புகுந்தனர்

பாக்தாதில் 33 ஷியாக்கள் 5 குண்டுவெடிப்புகளில் சுவனம் புகுந்தனர்
At least 33 killed in five explosions in BaghdadMCT
October 13, 2008

BAGHDAD - Five explosions ripped through central and southwestern Baghdad last evening as families shopped for an upcoming holiday, killing at least 33 and injuring at least 111.

In southwest Baghdad, a minivan exploded in a side street of a market where vendors were selling fruits, vegetables and secondhand goods. The bombing ripped through the packed street of shoppers just before the evening meal when Muslims sit down to break their daylong fast during this month of Ramadan. Twelve people were killed and 35 injured, police said.

About an hour and a half later, a second parked car bomb ripped through another marketplace in Karrada, central Baghdad. The market was packed with people who'd fasted from dawn to dusk and following their evening meal ventured out to shop for Eid ul-Fitr, the feast that follows the month of fasting. As families fled, a second bomb hidden under a vendor's stall detonated. At least 19 people were killed and 72 people were injured, police said.

Fadel Naama was inside "The Dragon" gym in Karrada, coaching a workout, when the two explosions turned the evening into a night of bloodshed. Shortly before the explosions, a teen came to him apologizing that he couldn't train yesterday because of a pulled muscle. Naama told him to go home and rest.



Just after the boy left with his friend, Naama heard the boom. The boy's friend ran up the stairs in shock, his white T-shirt stained red. "Where is your friend?" Fadel recalled asking. "He's been torn to pieces, the police took him," he said. He'd come up to wash the blood from his hands and legs.

Also yesterday in Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed an Iraqi soldier and injured three others including a civilian, and an adhesive bomb attached to a vehicle killed one person and injured another.

In the northern province of Diyala the mayor of the town of al-Saidiyah was injured along with three of his bodyguards and two civilians yesterday in a roadside bomb.