Car bomb hits wedding in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Everyone assumed the car parked outside the groom’s home belonged to a friend or relative. But as the joyful, ribbon-decked convoy pulled up conveying the bride to her new family, the vehicle exploded with a shattering boom.
Possibly as many as five guests were killed and 10 injured in the blast Thursday at a police officer’s wedding in Fallujah, police and witnesses said.
Word of the attack came as Iraqi police claimed to have killed as many as 80 al-Qaida-linked gunmen and arrested 50 others in clashes on the city’s outskirts the previous day. The figures could not be independently verified.
In an instant, the explosion in Fallujah turned a joyful celebration into a scene of blood-soaked horror. Women wailed and men shouted for help in rescuing the survivors.
“There was debris everywhere, and dust mixing with puddles of blood,” said police Lt. Wissam Mohammed, who was attending the wedding.
The bride and groom survived, but Mohammed said five guests were killed and 10 injured in the blast. A hospital official later put the death toll at three.
Police and government officials say deep divisions have emerged between area residents who support the city’s new authorities and those who back the anti-American insurgency.
In a sign of broader sectarian divisions in Iraq, a Sunni Muslim militant group said it kidnapped 18 government employees in response to the alleged rape last month of a Sunni woman by Shiite policemen, according to a statement and photos posted on the Internet today. The statement was signed by the Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni group with al-Qaida ties.
In Wednesday’s raid, gunmen reportedly targeted Ameriyat al-Fallujah, which Col. Abdullah Mohammed, police chief in nearby Fallujah, described as an enclave of government supporters in an area dominated by Sunni Arab militants.
Iraqi police responded, trading gunfire with the assailants for hours, said Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Khalaf, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police. A number of foreign fighters were among the approximately 80 dead and 50 arrested, including Afghans and Arabs, Mohammed and Khalaf said. The two officials did not provide information about police or civilian casualties.
The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for information about the incident. U.S. military officials have sought to enlist the support of provincial tribal leaders in the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq.
Police in the capital recovered 15 unidentified bodies Thursday, apparent victims of sectarian death squads. Before the crackdown was announced, they often found more than 30 a day.
Another bomb targeted the convoy of Jalal Eddin Sagheer, a prominent Shiite cleric and close government ally who has survived previous assassination attempts. The cleric and his entourage escaped unharmed, an aide said.
In other developments, two U.S. pilots were injured when an Army OH-58 Kiowa helicopter made a hard landing north of Baghdad, the military said. Initial reports indicated the incident was the result of mechanical failure, a brief statement said.