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Swath of North Turned Over to Iraqi Army
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The military said in a statement Tuesday that the second phase of Operation Forward Together had begun, with the Iraqi national police and the 4th Brigade Combat team of the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division conducting "clearing operations" in Baghdad.
"We must dramatically reduce the level of violence in Baghdad that is fueling sectarianism," Maj. Gen. J.D. Thurman, commander of the Multi-National Division in Baghdad, said in the statement. "Iraqi and U.S. forces will help the citizens of Baghdad by reducing the violence that has plagued this city since the Samarra bombing." The destruction of a Shiite shrine in the northern city of Samarra on Feb. 22 triggered the current wave of sectarian killings.
The bombings in Baghdad's Shorja district laid waste to the shops that make up the al-Araby market, according to survivors.
"The explosion did not hurt me, but glass panels of the shops and in the ceiling were shattered and caused the injuries," said Hameed Jabbar, 34, a merchant who was in serious condition at Kindi Hospital with wounds in the face, chest and abdomen.
Witnesses said that the two bombs detonated about 10 minutes apart and that the second caused the most devastation. "Many of the casualties occurred because of the flying glass caused by the second explosion," said Munthir Yassen, 30, a friend of Jabbar's who escaped injury. "This is a criminal act carried out against innocent civilians trying to make a living at this market."
Late Tuesday night, a pair of bombs exploded near an apartment building in the northern town of Baqubah. Police Capt. Noor Ibrahim said the bombs collapsed the building and heavily damaged a nearby Shiite prayer hall.
Four people were known dead, and rescue workers were still searching through the rubble at about midnight, Ibrahim said.
Special correspondent Hasan Shammari in Baqubah and other Washington Post employees in Iraq contributed to this report.
