Bomber targets truck laden with pilgrims
BAGHDAD, Iraq – In a cruel ending to an annual Shiite Muslim ritual, a suicide bomber Sunday rammed a car laden with explosives into a flatbed truck carrying dozens of pilgrims home after a weekend celebration. At least 31 died.
The attack in the capital brought to more than 220 the number of pilgrims slain in sectarian attacks in the past week, when millions of Shiites began converging on the holy city of Karbala. Some were shot to death by suspected Sunni extremists as they trekked from Baghdad, 60 miles away, or cities farther afield. Others were killed when suicide bombers detonated explosive belts in their midst.
Those targeted Sunday thought they were the lucky ones. They had survived the walk to Karbala, and a benefactor had given them a ride to Baghdad on a flatbed truck. They had saved money and avoided the risks of riding public buses, which are frequent targets of bombers.
It was a joyful journey, with about 70 pilgrims, mainly young men but some women and children, sharing the back of the truck and waving flags to celebrate the close of the holy event, which commemorates the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.
“Despite being tired, we were happy to arrive in Baghdad, and we felt safe,” said Qassim Ridha, 42, who was on the truck. Passengers were chatting and eager to return home, said Ridha, who remembered only a “huge explosion” near the back of the truck.
He regained consciousness in a Baghdad hospital, suffering from burns and shrapnel wounds to his head. Back at the site of the blast, in the Karada district, the charred remnants of the truck lay in a smoldering pile, and the pilgrims’ flags were just one color: red, from the blood that soaked them. Bloodied mattresses, blankets, and other belongings were strewn about the street.
It was one of several attacks Sunday that left at least 43 people dead across Baghdad, including at least 10 killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up aboard a public bus headed toward the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City.
Additionally, police reported finding the bodies of 20 men throughout the capital, all shot execution-style and presumed to be victims of Shiite death squads.
Military officials acknowledge that large-scale attacks, hallmarks of Sunni insurgents, have increased since a U.S.-Iraqi security plan was launched in mid-February.
The plan has put more police and military checkpoints on the streets, but insurgents are taking aim at them, as well as at large public gatherings, as they try to derail the security plan, undermine Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government and drive out U.S. forces.
Sunday’s violence began when a car bomb blew up in Karada about 11:45 a.m., killing at least two people. About an hour later, the bomber hit the pilgrims’ truck in another part of Karada.
“I don’t know what is going on these days,” said Salih Merza, a grocer in Sadr City, where many victims of the truck bombing lived. “It is not an act of bravery to kill innocent, unarmed people.”
Elsewhere in Iraq, an explosion rocked the building of a Sunni political party in the northern city of Mosul. Three guards outside the building died. In Mussayib, south of Baghdad, three police officers died when an explosive they were trying to disarm blew up.