BAGHDAD, 28 July 2006 — A rocket and mortar barrage followed by a car bomb blasted an upscale, mostly Shiite district yesterday, killing 31 people and wounding 153, police said. The attack came just days after President George W. Bush agreed to send more US troops to the capital to curb sectarian violence.
The explosions occurred at midmorning in the religiously mixed neighborhood controlled by a major Shiite party, two days after Bush approved plans to send more US and Iraqi troops into the capital city to curb rising sectarian violence.
Several rockets and mortars landed in the district, some destroying a bank and an apartment building that later collapsed in flames, said Interior Ministry Secretary Saadoun Abu Al-Ula. The others exploded in the middle of busy streets crowded with traffic.
At least two rockets were used in the attack, said police Lt. Col. Abbas Mohammed Salman in Karradah. Salman put the casualty toll as 31 dead and 153 wounded but said the deaths could rise because many of the injuries were severe.
Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s office issued a statement condemning the attacks in Karradah, vowing to hunt down those who “attempt to incite sectarian strife.”
Dozens of dazed, blood-soaked survivors shuffled through the rubble as emergency crews loaded weeping victims into ambulances, witnesses said.
The car bomb exploded near a gas station, shattering storefronts and spraying flaming gasoline onto homes and stores, the Interior Ministry said. Charred hulks of trucks overturned on the streets.
The front of an apartment complex was shorn away by the blast.
The explosion occurred about 200 meters away from the house of Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite and a senior figure in the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. The mortars all landed in mainly commercial areas, with one exploding about 150 meters from SCIRI’s headquarters in Karradah.
The attack was the largest on Karradah, a mixed neighborhood but mostly Shiite, in about a year. The area includes the home of President Jalal Talabani and the head of SCIRI, Abdul-Aziz Al-Hakim.
