Sunday August 17, 2008
Bombers struck Shi'ite pilgrims on Saturday for a third straight day, killing six people in the Iraqi capital in the latest in a series of attacks apparently aimed at stoking sectarian tension. The attacks targeted pilgrims headed for the Shiite city of Karbala, where hundreds of thousands of people have gathered for festivities that culminate Sunday morning. No group has claimed responsibility, but assaults on Shiite civilians have been carried out for years by Sunni extremists such as al-Qaida in Iraq. The latest attack occurred about 9 a.m. Saturday when a car bomb exploded in the north Baghdad neighborhood of Shaab as pilgrims were boarding minibuses bound for Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the south. On Friday, a passenger van packed with explosives blew up at a bus station in Balad, north of Baghdad. The Balad hospital director, Qassim Hatamal-Qaisi, said nine people were killed and 40 were wounded. A female suicide bomber killed 18 pilgrims resting by the side of a road Thursday in Latifiyah, 30 kilometres south of the capital. The attacks have heightened concern that extremists are seeking to, re-ignite the firestorm of sectarian massacres that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war two years ago before thousands of American reinforcements were rushed to the country. But the violence did little to deter the throngs of Shiite pilgrims who descended on Karbala for the festival, known as Shabaniyah, which marks the birth of Imam Mohammed al-Mahdi - known as the 'Hidden Iman' - a Shiite saint who disappeared in the ninth century.
Bombers struck Shi'ite pilgrims on Saturday for a third straight day, killing six people in the Iraqi capital in the latest in a series of attacks apparently aimed at stoking sectarian tension. The attacks targeted pilgrims headed for the Shiite city of Karbala, where hundreds of thousands of people have gathered for festivities that culminate Sunday morning. No group has claimed responsibility, but assaults on Shiite civilians have been carried out for years by Sunni extremists such as al-Qaida in Iraq. The latest attack occurred about 9 a.m. Saturday when a car bomb exploded in the north Baghdad neighborhood of Shaab as pilgrims were boarding minibuses bound for Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the south. On Friday, a passenger van packed with explosives blew up at a bus station in Balad, north of Baghdad. The Balad hospital director, Qassim Hatamal-Qaisi, said nine people were killed and 40 were wounded. A female suicide bomber killed 18 pilgrims resting by the side of a road Thursday in Latifiyah, 30 kilometres south of the capital. The attacks have heightened concern that extremists are seeking to, re-ignite the firestorm of sectarian massacres that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war two years ago before thousands of American reinforcements were rushed to the country. But the violence did little to deter the throngs of Shiite pilgrims who descended on Karbala for the festival, known as Shabaniyah, which marks the birth of Imam Mohammed al-Mahdi - known as the 'Hidden Iman' - a Shiite saint who disappeared in the ninth century.
Source: SkyNews
Muslims Against Sharia unequivocally condemn Baghdad bombing.
Our thoughts and prayers with the victims and their families.
May the perpetrators of these atrocities be caught swiftly and sent to hell, where they belong.
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