Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Suicide blasts kill 29 ahead of Iraq polls
7:51 AM | 
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BAQUBA: Three powerful co-ordinated suicide attacks in the central Iraqi city of Baquba killed at least 29 people and wounded 42 on Wednesday, just days before nationwide parliamentary elections.
The blasts struck a government building, a nearby traffic intersection and, later, the hospital where the wounded were being ferried, in the deadliest single attack to hit Iraq in nearly a month.
The attacks comes despite heightened security across the country ahead of Sunday's vote and after the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, threatened to disrupt the election by "military means."
"The three bombings killed 29 people," a security official from Baquba operations command said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Two near-simultaneous suicide vehicle bombs hit the city's provincial housing department's offices and a nearby intersection at around 9:30 am (0630 GMT) while a third person later blew himself up at Baquba's main hospital.
"The suicide bomber tried to blow himself up against the police chief when he came to see the wounded in the hospital," the official said.
Police chief Major General Abdul Hussein al-Shimmari escaped unharmed but a number of his personal security team were wounded.
The first vehicle crashed through the entrance to the provincial housing department's compound, which sits next to a police station, before exploding.
Moments later at a nearby traffic intersection, a suicide bomber triggered the explosives packed into his vehicle, creating a powerful blast. The hospital bombing occurred a short time later.
Wednesday's attack was the deadliest to hit the country since February 5, when 41 Shiite pilgrims were killed on the last day of a religious mourning ceremony on the outskirts of the holy city of Karbala.
Baquba, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Baghdad and capital of Diyala province, was a hotbed of Sunni insurgents in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion.
Iraqis go to the polls on Sunday 7 in legislative elections, the second such vote since Saddam Hussein was ousted in 2003.
The country's national security advisor said on Sunday that security forces had found and prevented at least 10 vehicle bombs in the past month as Al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups sought to target the election.
The blasts struck a government building, a nearby traffic intersection and, later, the hospital where the wounded were being ferried, in the deadliest single attack to hit Iraq in nearly a month.
The attacks comes despite heightened security across the country ahead of Sunday's vote and after the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, threatened to disrupt the election by "military means."
"The three bombings killed 29 people," a security official from Baquba operations command said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Two near-simultaneous suicide vehicle bombs hit the city's provincial housing department's offices and a nearby intersection at around 9:30 am (0630 GMT) while a third person later blew himself up at Baquba's main hospital.
"The suicide bomber tried to blow himself up against the police chief when he came to see the wounded in the hospital," the official said.
Police chief Major General Abdul Hussein al-Shimmari escaped unharmed but a number of his personal security team were wounded.
The first vehicle crashed through the entrance to the provincial housing department's compound, which sits next to a police station, before exploding.
Moments later at a nearby traffic intersection, a suicide bomber triggered the explosives packed into his vehicle, creating a powerful blast. The hospital bombing occurred a short time later.
Wednesday's attack was the deadliest to hit the country since February 5, when 41 Shiite pilgrims were killed on the last day of a religious mourning ceremony on the outskirts of the holy city of Karbala.
Baquba, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Baghdad and capital of Diyala province, was a hotbed of Sunni insurgents in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion.
Iraqis go to the polls on Sunday 7 in legislative elections, the second such vote since Saddam Hussein was ousted in 2003.
The country's national security advisor said on Sunday that security forces had found and prevented at least 10 vehicle bombs in the past month as Al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups sought to target the election.
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