95 killed, 563 wounded in Baghdad bomb carnage

• Source: Global Times
• [01:05 August 20 2009]
• Comments

A wounded man leaves the scene of an explosion outside the foreign ministry in central Baghdad, August 19, 2009.(Xinhua/AFP Photo)

A series of devastating attacks across Baghdad killed at least 95 people yesterday, in the worst day of carnage to hit the Iraqi capital since US troops pulled out of the conflict-hit nation’s cities.

An interior ministry official said 563 people were also wounded in attacks that included two massive truck bombings outside government ministries just minutes apart, including one near the heavily fortified Green Zone, a car bombing and a spate of mortar attacks.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was saddened by yesterday’s “appalling” attacks.

It had been the bloodiest day in Iraq since February 2008, coinciding with the sixth anniversary of a truck bombing on the UN compound in Baghdad that killed UN special envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 others.

“I was in my home with my family when the roof collapsed on us,” said Hamid, 46, who lives a few hundred meters from the foreign ministry compound, which was targeted along with the finance ministry.

“The government promised us security would return but where is the security?” he questioned. Iraqis pointed the finger at their domestic security forces, which in turn blamed members of executed former dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime.

“We accuse the Baathist alliance of executing these terrorist operations,” said Major General Qassim Atta, the spokesman for the Iraqi Army’s Baghdad operations, referring to the party of executed former dictator Saddam Hussein.

The attacks came shortly before the holy fasting month of Ramadan later this week.
Recent attacks in the capital have appeared to target various ethnic groups in a bid to reignite the sectarian violence that engulfed the country before.

AFP