Suicide car bomber strikes Baghdad crime lab killing 21

A SUICIDE car bomber struck a police crime lab in central Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 21 people and injuring dozens a day after suicide attacks hit several hotels favoured by Western journalists, officials said.

The timing of the blast, a day after Iraq hanged Saddam Hussein’s cousin and stalwart “Chemical Ali”, prompted speculation the latest attacks were retaliation by Sunni insurgents. But the top American commander in Iraq, General Raymond Odierno, said he saw “absolutely no connection” between the bombings on Monday that killed at least 41 people and the execution.

“We didn’t turn Chemical Ali over until yesterday afternoon... There was no way anybody could have known about that,” Odierno said yesterday.

This week’s bombings highlight a pattern of increasingly large and well-planned attacks on high-profile targets in the capital. They began with coordinated suicide attacks in August against the Foreign and Finance ministries that killed nearly 100 people.

Since then, Baghdad has been hit repeatedly with attacks every few months targeting government offices. On Monday, the targets shifted to hotels frequented by Western journalists and security contractors. Nearly 450 people have been killed in Baghdad since the August strike.