Bombs target Iraqi pilgrims, killing 66

BAGHDAD – Car bombs ripped through Shiite and Kurdish targets in Baghdad and other cities Wednesday, killing at least 66 people, wounding more than 200 and feeding growing doubts that Iraq will emerge as a stable democracy after decades of war and dictatorship.

The latest bloodshed comes against a backdrop of sharpening political divisions that show Iraq has made little progress in healing the breach among its religious and ethnic communities that once pushed the country to the brink of civil war. The coordination, sophistication and targets of the attack bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida and its Sunni militant allies seeking to exploit these tensions.

Iraqi authorities played down any suggestion that the devastating attacks that have taken place every few weeks or so since the U.S. military withdrew in mid-December portend a return to the all-out, tit-for-tat violence that tore the nation apart in 2006-’07.

“Iraqis are fully aware of the terrorism agenda and will not slip into a sectarian conflict,” said Baghdad military command spokesman Col. Dhia al-Wakeel.

But Iraqi authorities have been unable to prevent such wide-scale attacks, even though they were on high alert during a major Shiite pilgrimage. And the number and distribution of these bombings demonstrate the strength and resilience of the Sunni militants.

Altogether, 17 explosions struck Baghdad and six other cities and towns some 300 miles apart. Most targeted Shiite pilgrims between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. as hundreds of thousands were making their way on foot to the capital.

“I fell on the ground. Then so many people fell on me” said Falah Hassan, who was being treated for wounds at Sheikh Zayid Hospital in Baghdad.

Wednesday’s blasts were the third this week targeting the annual pilgrimage to observe the eighth-century death of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim, a revered saint who was the Prophet Muhammad’s great-grandson.

Bombs also hit pilgrims in the cities of Taji near the capital and Karbala and Balad in southern Iraq. The Kurdish ethnic minority was also targeted: Bombs struck the offices of two political parties in the northern city of Kirkuk.

One senior Iraqi intelligence officer acknowledged that the attacks – despite heightened security measures – showed the weakness of the military and police.

The overall toll made Wednesday the deadliest day in Iraq since Jan. 5, when a wave of bombings targeting Shiites killed 78 people in Baghdad and outside the southern city of Nasiriyah.