Monday, May 10, 2010

71 dead in widespread Iraq attacks blamed on al Qaeda

"This was a message to us that they can attack us in different parts of the city at the same time because they have cells everywhere,"
Some crazy Muslim killing Muslim Violence in Iraq today , gunmen and Suicide bombers wreak havoc throughout Baghdad and the surrounding area .

Attacking Markets where some Unruly Iraqi People where buying Food and other necessities , also striking at a Textile plant where some Iraqis had the nerve to actually be Working !

If you still think it is a mess in Iraq now , wait till the U.S. troops Withdraw !

(Reuters) - Bombers and gunmen seen as linked to a battered but still lethal al Qaeda killed at least 71 people on Monday in a day-long wave of attacks on markets, a textile factory, checkpoints and other sites across Iraq.

The attacks in far-flung locations including Baghdad and towns in the south, north and west of the capital appeared aimed at showing Iraqis that Sunni Islamist insurgents were still a potent force even after battlefield defeats in recent weeks. "Despite strong strikes that broke al Qaeda, there are some cells still working, attempting to prove their existence and their influence," said Baghdad's security spokesman, Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, calling the attacks "hysterical."

The attackers exploited the political disarray that followed a March 7 election that produced no outright winner and pitted a cross-sectarian bloc backed by minority Sunnis against two major Shi'ite-led coalitions.

Two months on, results have not been certified after an election that Iraqis hoped would deliver stable governance as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw more than seven years after ousting Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.

In the bloodiest incident on Monday, two suicide car bombers drove into the entrance of a textile factory as workers were ending a shift in the town of Hilla, 100 miles south of Baghdad, a regional office of the national media center said.

At least 35 people died and 136 were wounded, hospital and police officials said.

A third bomb exploded as police and medics rushed to the scene, causing additional casualties.

"This looks like a major campaign by the terrorists, not just in Hilla," said Babil province governor Salman al-Zarqani. The attacks were a reaction to efforts by Shi'ite factions to form a governing coalition after the March 7 election, he said.

Earlier, a suicide bomber wearing an explosives-laden vest and another driving a car killed 13 people and wounded 40 in a marketplace in al-Suwayra 50 km (30 miles) southeast of Baghdad, said Majid Askar, an official with the Wasit provincial council.

At dawn in Baghdad, gunmen equipped with silencers killed at least seven Iraqi soldiers and policemen when they attacked six checkpoints, while bombs planted at three others wounded several more, an Interior Ministry source said.

"This was a message to us that they can attack us in different parts of the city at the same time because they have cells everywhere," the source said.

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