Two bombs went off within minutes of each other in a crowded shopping district in the capital Thursday, killing at least 53 people and wounding 130 – a reminder that deadly attacks are a daily threat even though violence is down.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility. But back-to-back bombings – designed to maximize carnage – became the hallmark of attacks on civilians by al-Qaida in Iraq during the worst of the violence in Baghdad in 2006.
Iraqi soldiers search a truck at a checkpoint in Baghdad on March 4, 2008. At least 15 people were killed and 35 others wounded in two roadside bombings in central Baghdad on Thursday. [Agencies]
Like in previous such attacks, the tactic seeks to draw in the people with the first blast – especially security and medical workers – before a second bomb detonates.
Iraqis were enjoying a pleasant spring evening when a roadside bomb hidden under a vendor stall detonated in the primarily Shiite, middle-class Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah. Five minutes later, a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt detonated, Mohammed al-Rubaie, the head of the Karradah municipality, told the state-run Al-Iraqiya TV.
He said more than 50 civilians were killed and more than 100 injured. Many of the victims were teens or young adults, and four were women, police and officials at three hospitals said.
