Sunday, December 28, 2008
LOS ANGELES TIMES
BAGHDAD, Iraq — A mini-bus laden with explosives blew up in a Shiite Muslim neighborhood in western Baghdad on Saturday, killing as many as 24 people and wounding 46 others less than a week before the Iraqi government is scheduled to assume responsibility for its security from the United States.
The attack in the Kadhimiya neighborhood, near a popular flea market and bus stop, underscored Iraq’s continued instability, after days of relative calm. Despite significant drops in violence in Baghdad, the threat of random attacks remains. On Tuesday, U.S. General Ray Odierno, the senior American commander in Iraq, warned that armed groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq remain a threat.
Police said they suspect a suicide attacker drove the empty bus into the crowded square, then detonated the explosives. A couple of hours later, city workers were busy clearing the scene, heaping debris, burned clothes and the remnants of vendor booths into the back of a GMC truck. All that remained of the mini-bus was a mangled pile of metal. Broken glass, rubber tire parts and stray shoes covered the street. Vendor Jameel Athab, 37, said he had just left his stall to pray when he heard the explosion and saw the smoke.
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