Bomb kills 10 in Baghdad
A bomb killed 10 people including two US government employees and two US soldiers at a council meeting in the Baghdad stronghold of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr yesterday, officials said. Police said six Iraqis were killed and 10 wounded in the...
A bomb killed 10 people including two US government employees and two US soldiers at a council meeting in the Baghdad stronghold of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr yesterday, officials said. Police said six Iraqis were killed and 10 wounded in the attack at a local council building in southern Sadr City.
The US military blamed renegade Shi'ite militias called "special groups" for the bombing. That is jargon for rogue elements of Cleric Sadr's Mehdi Army militia that the military says are equipped, trained and funded by Iran. Tehran denies the charges.
US forces also blamed a special group cell for a truck bomb that killed 63 people in a Shi'ite neighbourhood of Baghdad a week ago.
A US embassy spokesman said one of the dead American civilians worked for the US State Department and the other for the Department of Defence. One US soldier was also wounded, the military said.
The US military said a suspect who had tested positive for explosives residue had been caught trying to flee the scene. That suggests a bomb was planted in the council building.
Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover, a US military spokesman, said the target of the attack was believed to be a high-ranking council member. It was unclear if that person survived.
Lt. Col. Stover said the rogue Shi'ite militant groups were unhappy the council member was working with US forces. Mahmud al-Zamili, a member of Sadr City's council, said the blast occurred inside the office of the deputy head of the council. Police said the deputy was among the wounded. Sadr City is the bastion of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, where battles between gunmen and security forces raged for weeks until a truce took effect in May.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has sought to weaken the stranglehold of the Mehdi Army and other Shi'ite militias with a spate of military operations in areas where they have held sway, including Baghdad and the southern cities of Basra and Amara.
A crackdown on Shi'ite militants in Amara has met no resistance since it was launched last Thursday.