A Bloody Sunday in Baghdad, In Spite of The Surge

[babylonsister]

A Bloody Sunday in Baghdad, In Spite of The Surge

by Mohammed al Dulaimy and Leila Fadel

BAGHDAD - Five explosions ripped through central and southwestern Baghdad Sunday evening as families shopped for an upcoming holiday, killing at least 33 and injuring at least 111.


A grandmother of 19-year-old Mohammed Esam cries over his body at a morgue in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, Iraq, Monday, Sept. 29, 2008. Mohammed was one of 22 victims in Sunday's car bombing central Baghdad. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)

The bombings were a bloody reminder that despite the drop in violence in Iraq over the past year the bloodshed is not gone.

In southwest Baghdad, a minivan detonated in a side street of a market where vendors were selling fruits, vegetables and second hand goods. The bombing ripped through the packed street of shoppers just before the evening meal when Muslims sit down to break their daylong fast during this month of Ramadan.

About an hour and a half later, a second parked car bomb ripped through another market place. The market was packed with people who'd fasted from dawn to dusk and following their evening meal ventured out to shop for the upcoming holiday Eid al Fitr, the holiday of feasting, that follows the month of fasting in Islam. As families fled, a second bomb hidden under a vendor's stall detonated. At least 19 people were killed and some 72 people were injured, police said.

Police later found a third vest they believed was intended for use at the same time.

Fadel Naama was inside "The Dragon" gym coaching patrons as they worked out in the central Baghdad neighborhood of Karrada when the two explosions turned the evening into a night of bloodshed. Shortly before the explosions, a teenage boy came to him apologizing that he couldn't train on Sunday because of a pulled muscle. Naama, who owns the gym, told him to go home and rest.

Just after the boy left with his friend, Naama heard the boom and felt the pressure of an explosion. The boy's friend ran up the stairs in shock, his white T-shirt stained red.

"Where is your friend?" Fadel recalled asking. "He's been torn to pieces, the police took him," he said. He'd come up to wash the blood from his hands and legs.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/09/30-2

[az chela]

1. God damn it stop this stupid killing !!!!!!

Bring the troops home ,fix Iraq and give it back to the righful owners.
This has to stop NOW

[babylonsister]

2. I hear you. Someone needs to ask McBush what he thinks of 'this'

never-ending surge.

[lyonn]

3. Surely this can't be true (sarcasm).

The news has not mentioned these horrific events.......