BAGHDAD: Two women suicide bombers killed 60 people outside a heavily guarded shrine in Baghdad yesterday, prompting Iraq’s prime minister to order an investigation into security shortcomings that allowed the assailants to slip through.
Violence in Iraq has dropped to its lowest levels since the months following the 2003 US-led invasion, but an upsurge in suicide bombings and other devastating attacks in recent weeks has renewed concerns about the capabilities of Iraq’s security forces.
Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki suspended the commanders who oversaw security in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kadhimiya, where yesterday’s attack took place.
The bombers detonated explosive belts within minutes of each other near separate gates of the shrine, said a police officer. Another said the bombers struck shortly before the start of Friday prayers as worshippers streamed into the adjoining mosque.
Laith Ali, 35, who owns a shop in the area, said security at the time of the bombing was high. “We felt secure because security checks were going on at the main entrances to the shrine,” he said, adding all visitors were being checked.
The blasts left dead bodies scattered near the entrances. Hours later, pools of blood still streaked the sidewalks. Among the dead were 25 Iranian visitors, said police and hospital officials. They said at least 125 people, including 80 Iranians, were injured in the blast.
The US military could not provide details, saying the area around the shrine was patrolled by Iraqi security forces.
Staff at the nearby Kadhimiya Hospital were overwhelmed trying to treat the injured. Many of the wounded were forced to wait outside the hospital before they could be attended to.
A day earlier, two suicide bombings in different parts of the country killed 88 people.
Iraq’s leadership is trying to ensure that its security forces will be able to keep Iraqis safe as the United States prepares to withdraw its troops. Al-Maliki ordered a military task force to investigate yesterday’s bombings and ordered the battalion and company commanders responsible for security in the area to be relieved of duty during the investigation, said military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim Al-Moussawi.
