Baghdad - At least 20 civilians were killed and 25 wounded
on Sunday when a car bomb detonated in al-Karada district in central
Baghdad, said police sources.
Initial police reports had placed the number of dead at
11, adding that only seven were wounded. However, the police
described the attack as intense and the death toll was expected to
rise in the hours following the attack.
According to the police, the civilians were mostly Shiite pilgrims
who were on their way back from a festival, usually celebrated 40
days after the Ashura festival where they commemorate the death of
Imam Hussein, Shiite icon and grandson of the prophet.
The car used in the attack was reportedly parked at the side of
the road and was detonated using a remote control, said the police.
In a separate incident, at least 11 people were killed and 14 more
were wounded when another bomb detonated near al-Mustansiriyah
college in Baghdad, which has been previously targeted by militants.
Police reports said the explosion was caused by a suicide
attacker, who detonated his explosive belt on a commuter bus as it
passed near the Baghdad-based college.
Separately, four people were reportedly killed and two more were
wounded in Mosul when an explosion rocked the headquarters of the
Iraqi Islamic Party, police sources said Sunday.
The Iraqi Islamic Party is a Sunni party, lead by Iraqi Vice
President Tarek al-Hashimi, with its headquarters in southern Mosul,
450 kilometres north of Baghdad. The party is part of the Iraqi
Accord Front, the Sunni coalition which has 44 seats in Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government.
Police sources did not say whether the blast was caused by a
suicide attack.
However, Voices of Iraq news agency quoted Mohammad Shaker
al-Ghanam, an official from the party, as saying that an unidentified
body found near the blast site might 'belong to a suicide bomber who
carried out the attack.'
Al-Ghanam also said that the blast targeted the information office
of the party headquarters.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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