Post by Salem6 on Feb 10, 2004 16:03:04 GMT
At least 35 people have been killed and 150 wounded in an apparent suicide attack outside an Iraqi police station.
The bomb exploded in the mainly Shia Muslim town of Iskandariya, 40km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, as new recruits were queuing outside.
The injured were ferried to hospitals as far away as Baghdad
A BBC correspondent reports that tension is extremely high and US troops are struggling to maintain order.
Militants have killed at least 300 members of the new Iraqi police force set up by the US-led coalition.
A police official told a BBC correspondent at the scene that at least 35 people had been killed and 70 badly wounded.
Abdulrazak Al-Jelabi, the manager of the local hospital, told the BBC that he had counted 50 bodies.
Both Iraqi police and US military officials said they suspected a suicide attacker had struck, delivering the bomb in a pick-up truck.
The BBC's Stephen Sackur reports from Iskandariya that an angry crowd gathered at the site of the blast and anti-American slogans could be heard.
Another BBC correspondent, Jonny Dymond, says the attack may have been aimed at creating unrest among Shia Muslims, who largely welcomed last year's US-led invasion.
On Monday a US military spokesman, Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt, revealed that documents had been seized in Baghdad showing that al-Qaeda planned to target Shia Muslims in order to fan sectarian conflict.
"There is clearly a plan on the part of the outsiders to spark civil war, commit sectarian violence, try to expose fissures in society," he said.
'Huge' blast
The Iskandariya bombing appears to be the worst loss of life in Iraq since twin bomb attacks in the northern city of Irbil on 1 February killed more than 100 people at Kurdish rallies.
The bomb exploded at 0930 (0630 GMT), said local police commander Lt Col Salam Trad.
Coalition troops sealed off the town and used helicopters to ferry some of the wounded to a Polish field hospital nearby.
RECENT MAJOR ATTACKS
10 February: At least 35 killed in car bomb attack on police station in Iskandariya
1 February: At least 100 killed by twin suicide bombings during celebrations in Kurdish city of Irbil
18 January: 18 reported killed outside coalition HQ, Baghdad
14 December: Car bomb at police station kills 17 in Khalidiya, west of Baghdad
12 November: 26 die in suicide attack on Italian base in Nasiriya
A photographer for AFP news agency saw a crater approximately 25 metres (yards) wide outside the police station which stands on the main road to Baghdad.
The facade of the one-storey building was damaged and the blast had wrecked about 15 cars.
At the hospital, staff tried desperately to mop up pools of blood with soap and water.
Provincial Governor Imad Lifty said all of the dead were local people.
"It appears the amount of explosives used was huge because it killed so many and devastated the buildings," he said.
"It was the day for applying for new recruits," policeman Wissam Abdul-Karim told AP news agency.
"There were tens of them waiting outside the police station."
A spokesman for the coalition, US Lt Col Dan Williams, said that no US or coalition forces were killed or injured.
Video:-
The BBC's Jonny Dymond
"This enormous bomb caught many in its path"
news.bbc.co.uk/media/video/39843000/rm/_39843305_iraq13_dymond_vi.ram
The bomb exploded in the mainly Shia Muslim town of Iskandariya, 40km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, as new recruits were queuing outside.
The injured were ferried to hospitals as far away as Baghdad
A BBC correspondent reports that tension is extremely high and US troops are struggling to maintain order.
Militants have killed at least 300 members of the new Iraqi police force set up by the US-led coalition.
A police official told a BBC correspondent at the scene that at least 35 people had been killed and 70 badly wounded.
Abdulrazak Al-Jelabi, the manager of the local hospital, told the BBC that he had counted 50 bodies.
Both Iraqi police and US military officials said they suspected a suicide attacker had struck, delivering the bomb in a pick-up truck.
The BBC's Stephen Sackur reports from Iskandariya that an angry crowd gathered at the site of the blast and anti-American slogans could be heard.
Another BBC correspondent, Jonny Dymond, says the attack may have been aimed at creating unrest among Shia Muslims, who largely welcomed last year's US-led invasion.
On Monday a US military spokesman, Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt, revealed that documents had been seized in Baghdad showing that al-Qaeda planned to target Shia Muslims in order to fan sectarian conflict.
"There is clearly a plan on the part of the outsiders to spark civil war, commit sectarian violence, try to expose fissures in society," he said.
'Huge' blast
The Iskandariya bombing appears to be the worst loss of life in Iraq since twin bomb attacks in the northern city of Irbil on 1 February killed more than 100 people at Kurdish rallies.
The bomb exploded at 0930 (0630 GMT), said local police commander Lt Col Salam Trad.
Coalition troops sealed off the town and used helicopters to ferry some of the wounded to a Polish field hospital nearby.
RECENT MAJOR ATTACKS
10 February: At least 35 killed in car bomb attack on police station in Iskandariya
1 February: At least 100 killed by twin suicide bombings during celebrations in Kurdish city of Irbil
18 January: 18 reported killed outside coalition HQ, Baghdad
14 December: Car bomb at police station kills 17 in Khalidiya, west of Baghdad
12 November: 26 die in suicide attack on Italian base in Nasiriya
A photographer for AFP news agency saw a crater approximately 25 metres (yards) wide outside the police station which stands on the main road to Baghdad.
The facade of the one-storey building was damaged and the blast had wrecked about 15 cars.
At the hospital, staff tried desperately to mop up pools of blood with soap and water.
Provincial Governor Imad Lifty said all of the dead were local people.
"It appears the amount of explosives used was huge because it killed so many and devastated the buildings," he said.
"It was the day for applying for new recruits," policeman Wissam Abdul-Karim told AP news agency.
"There were tens of them waiting outside the police station."
A spokesman for the coalition, US Lt Col Dan Williams, said that no US or coalition forces were killed or injured.
Video:-
The BBC's Jonny Dymond
"This enormous bomb caught many in its path"
news.bbc.co.uk/media/video/39843000/rm/_39843305_iraq13_dymond_vi.ram