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Iraqi Pipeline Blast Kills 50; Gonzales Consults in Capital
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Tuesday's violence in Iraq underscored the challenges of imposing the rule of law in a nation besieged by sectarian violence, militias, death squads and desperate economic and social conditions.
The explosion in Diwaniyah, about 100 miles south of Baghdad, came as fuel prices have soared and Iraqis are desperate for sources of power. Iraq's oil supply has been plagued by insurgent attacks, dilapidated infrastructure and widespread graft.
The blast resulted when one of the thieves siphoning gasoline from a hole punched in the pipeline was smoking a cigarette, said Hameed Jiaati, the health director in Diwaniyah.
A day earlier in Diwaniyah, militiamen loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr fought with U.S.-backed Iraqi in one of the first major clashes between the two forces, reportedly killing 20 Iraqi soldiers and eight civilians.
On Tuesday, officials from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office said the death toll had risen to 73, including 50 militiamen and 23 Iraqi soldiers. The increased toll could not be independently verified.
[Early Wednesday, an explosives-rigged bicycle detonated near an army recruiting center in Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people and wounding 28, the Associated Press cited police as saying.]
At the al-Karama elementary school in Baghdad Tuesday, police discovered 11 bodies about noon. "The corpses were blindfolded and handcuffed behind the backs, and they were shot in different parts of their body," said Brig. Gen. Ihsan Mahmood of the Interior Ministry. "There were torture marks on some of the bodies. Their ages were between 18 and 25 . They wore civilian clothes."
In Baqubah, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, unidentified gunmen attacked Sadr's local office with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns at 6:30 a.m., killing two guards and heavily damaging the building and nearby shops, said Abu Moqtada, a Sadr employee in the office who refused to give his full name.
Sarhan reported from Diwaniyah. Correspondent Ellen Knickmeyer in Baghdad, staff writer Robin Wright in Washington and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.
