BAGHDAD, 19 February 2005 — Five explosions rocked Iraq yesterday, killing at least 39 people, officials said, in the deadliest day of violence since the landmark elections last month.
Suicide bombers struck at two Shiite mosques just before Friday prayers ended, another explosion occurred near a Shiite religious procession and a fourth attack, also carried out by a suicide bomber, blasted an Iraqi police and National Guard checkpoint in a Sunni neighborhood.
A fifth attack, a car bomb in the southern town of Iskandariyah, left at least seven people dead and 10 wounded outside a Shiite mosque, doctors said. The blast took place at about 7 p.m. in the predominantly Shiite town, 50 kilometers south of Baghdad.
The attacks — the deadliest since last month’s elections — recalled bombings a year ago that killed at least 181 at this time.
National Security Adviser Mouwaffaq Al-Rubaie accused Jordanian-born terror suspect Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi group and former Baath party members of trying to incite a civil war in Iraq.
“It’s a paradoxical idea when they claim that they are fighting the infidels and at the same time, they kill Muslims during Friday prayers,” he said. “The purpose of these attacks is to agitate for civil and sectarian war.”
He said that Shiites won’t call for retaliation against Sunnis.
“I am happy and proud of the people’s reactions. Those who lost their sons, and relatives, didn’t call for retaliation against Sunnis, which reflects their awareness and understanding of what is going on,” Al-Rubaie added.
Meanwhile, five American soldiers were killed in separate attacks on Wednesday and Thursday, the US military said. Four died north of Baghdad, one in the southern part of the country.
The bloodshed began when a bomber entered the vestibule of Al-Khadimain Mosque in the Iraqi capital’s Doura neighborhood as worshippers inside knelt in prayer before detonating his explosives, said a witness, Hussein Rahim Qassim.
Shortly afterward, a bomb exploded outside the Al-Bayaa Mosque in western Baghdad.
The first explosion killed 15 and the second killed 14, an official at Baghdad’s Al-Yarmouk Hospital said on condition of anonymity. About 30 were wounded at both mosques.
Less than an hour later, an explosion near a procession of Shiites northwest of the city center killed two and injured five, according to Iraqi police Lt. Waed Hussein.
The fourth attack was at the checkpoint in northern Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Adamiyah. An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw one dead police officer and two wounded civilians.
The bombings were a bloody reminder of last year’s carnage when twin blasts ripped through crowds of worshippers in Baghdad and Kerbala.
The imam at the Al-Khadimain Mosque used the minaret’s loudspeakers to appeal for blood donations, said 1st Lt. Ahmad Ali, who added that a suicide bomber was behind the blast.
Quick action from a security guard at the Al-Bayaa Mosque may have prevented more bloodshed. Amer Mayah said he opened fire on a man — apparently a second suicide attacker at the mosque — who was trying to get two grenades from his pocket, “and immediately he exploded.”
There were no immediate claims of responsibility, but Iraqis blamed radical insurgents, who have staged car bombs, shootings and kidnappings to try to destabilize Iraq’s reconstruction and provoke a sectarian civil war between Shiites and Sunnis.
Walid Al-Hilly, a leading figure of the Shiite-led Dawa Party, told Al-Jazeera television that the attacks were designed to provoke civil war. “They kill unarmed men, women and children. These terrorist actions will not intimidate us nor make us change the way that we choose freedom from tyranny and oppression,” he said.
“We chose the path of brotherhood, cooperation and unity between Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, Shabak, Turkomen and Christians and all other sects.”
As of yesterday, at least 1,473 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
One soldier was shot in Mosul in a small-arms attack Thursday, the military said. West of Mosul, a soldier was killed and another was wounded when a roadside bomb exploded while they were on patrol in Tal Afar, the military said.
Another assault in Mosul on Wednesday took the life of third US soldier, who died in a car bomb attack while patrolling the volatile city. Three other soldiers were wounded in that blast.
— With input from agencies
