"I went out immediately," he said. "I found people thrown here and there, covered with blood. I even found children on the ground, wounded. I pulled some of them out and put them in the first car I found, and told them to go to the hospital."
Hospital officials said 15 persons died and 34 were wounded in the attack.
Victims of Friday's Khadimain mosque explosion are taken to the al-Yarmouk hospital in Baghdad, where the bodies are claimed by relatives.
(Mohammed Uraibi - AP)
|
Insurgents Attacks on Iraqi Citizens
From
Associated Press
at 11:25 AM
Here are some of the deadliest insurgent attacks in Iraq targeting Iraqi citizens:
Feb. 8, 2005: A suicide bomber blows himself up in the middle of a crowd of army recruits, killing 21.
Dec. 19, 2004: Car bombs tear through a Najaf funeral procession and Karbala's main bus station, killing at least 60 and wounding more than 120 in the two Shiite holy cities.
Sept. 30, 2004: Bombings in Baghdad's al-Amel neighborhood kill 35 children and seven adults as U.S. troops hand out candy at a government ceremony inaugurating a new sewage treatment plant.
Sept. 14, 2004: A car bomb rips through a busy market near a Baghdad police headquarters where Iraqis wait to apply for jobs, and gunmen open fire on a van carrying police home from work in Baqouba, killing at least 59 total and wounding at least 114.
Aug. 26, 2004: A mortar barrage slams into a mosque filled with Iraqis preparing to march on the embattled city of Najaf, killing 27 and wounding 63.
July 28, 2004: A suicide car bomb devastates a busy street in Baqouba, killing 70.April 21, 2004: Five blasts near police stations and a police academy in southern city of Basra kill at least 55.
March 2, 2004: Coordinated blasts strike Shiite Muslim shrines in Karbala and in Baghdad, killing at least 181.
Feb. 11, 2004: Suicide attacker blows up a car packed with explosives in a crowd of Iraqis waiting outside a Baghdad army recruiting center, killing 47.
Feb. 10, 2004: Suicide bomber explodes a truckload of explosives outside a Iskandariyah police station, killing 53.
Feb. 1, 2004: Twin suicide bombers kill 109 in two Kurdish party offices in Irbil.
Oct. 27, 2003: Four suicide bombings target international Red Cross headquarters and four Iraqi police stations in Baghdad, killing 40, mostly Iraqis.
Aug. 29, 2003: A car bomb explodes outside mosque in Najaf, killing more than 85, including Shiite leader Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim.
Aug. 19, 2003: A truck bomb explodes outside the U.N. headquarters building in Baghdad, killing 23, including U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.
|
| |
|
About twenty minutes later and five miles away, in the neighborhood of Bayaa, guards at the Haji mosque got a phone call alerting them to trouble. Moments later, they saw three men get out of a car across from the mosque and start walking toward worshipers gathered outside.
Two guards in the balcony of the mosque below the green dome shouted at the approaching strangers, according to one of the guards, who gave his name as Abu Murtadha.
"The guards shouted stop, stop, stop," he said. "But they didn’t stop. So the guards by the gate shot at them. The first one blew up when the shots started. The second one threw a grenade, and then blew himself up. The third one ran toward the mosque and blew himself up," said Abu Murtadha.
One person died, according to a spokesman at the Yarmuk hospital. Fourteen people were injured, according to the U.S. military.
Five miles further to the northeast, another blast, this one caused by mortars, struck a shop near worshipers in the Baghdad neighborhood of Ashulah. According to police reports, that blast killed three persons and injured five.
A third suicide bomber detonated himself at an Iraqi police and National Guard checkpoint in a Sunni neighborhood.
The explosions came as Iraqi political parties continued to negotiate to form a new government in the wake of the January 30 national election. A coalition of Shiite parties is expected to name the prime minister and will take the majority of seats. But the political figures have vowed to bring Sunni Muslims and Kurds into key positions in the government, to try to prevent sectarian splits in the country.
