Series of attacks raise concern of resurgence of violence in Iraq_English

Special Report: Tension escalates in Iraq

by Jamal Hashim, Gao Shan

BAGHDAD, March 10 (Xinhua) -- At least 33 Iraqis were killed in a suicide attack in the west of Baghdad on Tuesday, raising concerns of the resurgence of violence in the war-torn country.

The attack was the second deadly attack in three days. At least28 Iraqis were killed in a suicide bombing targeted police recruits in Baghdad on Sunday.

A wounded Iraqi rests on a bed at the Al-Yarmuk hospital in Baghdad. Iraqi tribal leaders and army officers were among the 33 people killed by a suicide bomber outside the town hall in Abu Ghraib.

A wounded Iraqi rests on a bed at the Al-Yarmuk hospital in Baghdad. Iraqi tribal leaders and army officers were among the 33 people killed by a suicide bomber outside the town hall in Abu Ghraib.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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An Interior Ministry source told Xinhua Tuesday that up to 33 people were killed and some 46 others injured in the latest bloody suicide bombing when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a crowd of tribal leaders and army officers while they were leaving the town hall in Abu Ghraib area, some 20 km west of Baghdad.

The crowd just finished a reconciliation meeting at the town hall and was accompanied by many Iraqi journalists when the attacker hit them at a busy marketplace just outside the town hall, the source said.

Another police source said the tribal leaders were touring a marketplace when a suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest struck their crowd.

Sabah Ghazi, an official at the town hall said that local authorities blame al-Qaida in Iraq network for the attack.

"It's for sure that such attacks are only committed by al-Qaida terrorists, but they will not succeed to threaten Iraqis," Ghazi told Xinhua.

"Those terrorists are targeting national reconciliation efforts and improvement of security with the aim at stopping them," he said.

Two Iraqi television journalists from the privately owned Baghdadiya Channel, based in Cairo, were among those killed in the attack, and four of the state-run Iraqia television were also wounded, one of them, Ibrahim al-Katib, was in critical condition.

The commander of the third regiment of the al-Muthanna Brigade was killed and Staff Col. Murad Kareem, the commander of the brigade himself, was also injured, a police source said.

In Iraq's northern Nineveh province, another suicide bomber blew himself up outside the town hall of the town of Hamdaniyah, some 30 km north of the capital city of Mosul, killing three people and wounding seven others, the police said.

The attacker targeted a police patrol who was passing in front of the town hall of Hamdaniyah, they said.

Al-Iraqiya reporter Ibrahim al-Kateb receives treatment at the Al-Yarmuk hospital in Baghdad. Kateb was wounded in a suicide blast that killed at least 33 people including tribal leaders in Abu Ghraib.

Al-Iraqiya reporter Ibrahim al-Kateb receives treatment at the Al-Yarmuk hospital in Baghdad. Kateb was wounded in a suicide blast that killed at least 33 people including tribal leaders in Abu Ghraib.(Xinhua/AFP Photo)
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The attacks came two days after another suicide bomber blew himself up among a crows of police recruits outside the police academy in eastern Baghdad, killing up to 28 people and wounding 57 others.

A series of reconciliation meetings of Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders were held in recent days in Baghdad.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki renewed Saturday his call on all Iraqis to reconcile and unite after years of differences in the latest effort to promote reconciliation among different blocs and sects.

The remarks came a day after a similar call for reconciliation and forgiveness with Saddam Hussein's former Baath party members.

The series of deadly bombings raise fears about an increase in insurgent ability to conduct high-profile attacks in the war-torn country and a setback to security gains in Iraq in recent months as the U.S. prepares to withdraw most of its troops from the country within 18 months.

Despite the security gains in recent months in Iraq, there are still sporadic attacks throughout the country.

The series of deadly attacks are widely believed to be the latest attempt by al-Qaida and others to erode the confidence of civilians and Iraqi security forces and to escalate the tensions among Iraq's rival ethic and religious groups.

The spokesman for US forces in Iraq, Major Gen David Perkins, told a news conference on Sunday it was an evidence that terror groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq were growing desperate as they sought to derail security gains in the country.