Back-to-back blasts kill 9 in N. Iraq

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Back-to-back blasts kill 9 in N. Iraq

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

AP via Yahoo - Feb 17, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070217/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq


Back-to-back blasts kill 9 in N. Iraq

By BRIAN MURPHY
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomber rammed into a crowded market in
northern Iraq moments after a booby-trapped vehicle exploded Saturday,
killing at least nine people and injuring 60, police said.

The back-to-back blasts in the oil hub of Kirkuk contrasted with a lull in
major violence in Baghdad as U.S. and Iraqi forces try to regain control
from gangs and militias. On the outskirts of the capital, Iraqi soldiers
seized 50 Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles, said Brig. Gen. Qassim
Moussawi. He declined to give more details.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced stop in Baghdad
before heading for scheduled talks in Israel. She is the highest-level
Washington official to visit Iraq since last month's announcement of the
coordinated sweep against militant factions.

"If in fact militias decide to stand down and stop killing innocent Iraqis
... that can't be a bad thing," Rice told reporters traveling with her.

"But how the Iraqis use the breathing space that that might provide is
what's really important," she said before meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki.

Some believe militants have made a tactical retreat to avoid the stepped up
pressure and could regroup later. The attacks in Kirkuk, about 180 miles
north of Baghdad, again showed the willingness of extremists to strike busy
urban areas for maximum bloodshed.

Shops and a bus depot were filled with people when the first explosion
occurred. Minutes later, a suicide car bomber slammed into the area in a
mostly Kurdish district of the city, police said. The blasts also damaged
about 20 shops.

At Kirkuk's main hospital, beds and cots quickly filled and some of the
injured were placed on floors. Saman Ahmed, a local restaurant owner, was
splashed with hot cooking oil as one of blasts hurled him onto the street.
He lay on the sidewalk with burns and a broken leg as people fled amid
burning cars and debris.

Kirkuk is a major oil center with a mixed population of Kurds and Sunni and
Shiite Arabs. On Feb. 3, a series of car bombs in the city killed two
people and injured 30.

Iraqi authorities said they foiled a potential suicide bomber near Karbala,
about 50 miles south of Baghdad. A minivan came under fire after the driver
failed to slowdown at a checkpoint, and then detonated the explosives and
was killed in the blast, said Karbala police spokesman Rahman Mishawi.
There were no other casualties.

In Baghdad, new checkpoints were set up around the city, creating long
traffic jams as vehicles were thoroughly searched. Iraqi tanks pushed into
districts that recently were ruled by roaming gunmen and militant groups.

Violence in Baghdad has dropped off sharply since the military push began
earlier this week. U.S. military planners, however, caution that any
attempt to stabilize Baghdad could take months and it's likely militants
will not leave without a fight.

"We are very optimistic," said U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor. Then he
quickly added: "Things aren't going to change overnight."

Washington has pledged 21,500 additional troops for the operation, which is
expected to reach a total of 90,000 U.S. and Iraqi forces.

"I would say that it is way too early to establish any trends," Lt. Col.
Chris Garver, a U.S. military spokesman, said Friday. "We've just started
to focus our operations. We have months to go to see if we are going to
succeed or not."

Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, attributed the
reduction in violence not only to the increased security presence but also
to an apparent decision by the militias and insurgents to lay low for a
while.

"But make no mistake, we do not believe ... that's going to continue, and
we do expect there are going to be some very rough, difficult days ahead,"
Fil said. "And this enemy knows how -- they understand lethality and they
have a thirst for blood like I have never seen anywhere before."

The U.S. military said Saturday that a Marine was killed during combat
operations in western Anbar province. The Marine, who was assigned to
Multinational Forces-West, died Friday, the statement said, but no further
details were released.

The death was the first reported among U.S. forces since Wednesday when
five soldiers were killed -- all but one of them in Diyala province
northeast of Baghdad.

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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