Suicide bombers kill 42 and injure 200 in Baghdad attacks

SUICIDE attackers detonated three car bombs near embassies in Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 42 people and wounding more than 200 in back-to-back bombings.

Authorities said they foiled two other attacks aimed at diplomatic targets.

The bombings came two days after a chilling execution-style attack by gunmen who raided homes south of Baghdad, killing 24 people, many of them believed to be anti-al-Qaeda fighters.

The rise in bloodshed deepened fears that insurgents are seizing on the political uncertainty after last month’s close parliamentary elections to sow further instability.

Yesterday’s blasts went off within minutes of each other, one near the Iranian Embassy and two others in an area that houses the Egyptian Consulate, and the German and Spanish embassies, said Maj Gen Qassim al- Moussawi, a spokesman for the city’s operations command centre.

“These explosions targeted diplomatic missions,” al-Moussawi said, adding the death toll was likely to rise. “It’s a terrorist act.”

The force of the blasts shook buildings and rattled windows miles away.

Civilians outside the Iranian Embassy loaded casualties into police vehicles and ambulances. Stunned victims in bloody clothes fled the scene as smoke rose.

One man was cradling a small girl, wearing a white dress, in his arms.

Hassan Karim, 32, who owns a clothing shop near one of the bomb sites, said the first blast shattered windows and knocked all the shelves off the walls. He ran outside after the second explosion just minutes later.

“I saw children screaming while their mothers held their hands or clutched them to their chest,” he said. “Cars were crashing into each other in streets, trying to find a way to flee.”

Officials say they thwarted two additional attacks.

Security forces shot and killed a man wearing a suicide belt in a fourth bomb- rigged car near the former German embassy, which is now a bank in the capital’s Karrada district, home to several other diplomatic missions, al-Moussawi said.

Another senior Iraqi security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said a fifth bomber was captured on his way to the Mansour area where two of the explosions occurred.

The official said Iraqi forces were tipped off about a possible attack against diplomatic targets and had begun beefing up security precautions on Saturday.

“We were fortunate they weren’t able to reach their targets,” he said.

It was not immediately clear whether any diplomatic staff were among the victims. Several Iraqi guards at the Egyptian Consulate and one Iraqi guard at the German Embassy were killed, authorities said.

Guards at the Egyptian Consulate opened fire on one of the attackers as he drove toward them, but were unable to stop him before the blast hit concrete barriers, al-Moussawi said.

Four Egyptians working at the consulate were wounded by shrapnel, according to Egypt’s foreign ministry.

The Spanish government said one of the explosions caused “considerable damage” to its embassy, but injured no one.

Multiple, coordinated bombings in the capital have become a hallmark of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

US military spokesman Capt Jay Ostrich said American forces, including explosives disposal teams, were assisting Iraqi troops at the government’s request. He said the US military is “ready to support any further requests for assistance” from Iraqi authorities.

Police and health officials said at least 42 people were killed and 235 wounded.

One of the police officials said many of the victims were employees at a state- run bank near the Iranian Embassy.

Yesterday’s blasts were the deadliest since a female suicide bomber killed at least 54 on February 1, when she detonated explosives hidden beneath a cloak while among Shiite pilgrims on the outskirts of Baghdad.

“These terrorist groups ... intend through their terrorism to confuse the political process and the efforts of the political blocs to form the next government,” the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.