Deadly attacks shake Baghdad

23/02/2012| IslamWeb

A series of bomb blasts and shootings in Baghdad have killed at least 24 people and injured another 72 people, sources tell Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf, reporting from the Iraqi capital on Thursday, said the attacks included a car bomb during morning rush hour, roadside bombs seemingly targeting police, and gunmen opening fire on police patrols.

"The blasts seemed to happen at almost the same time, in what is seen as a coordinated attack," Aljazeera correspondent said.

According to a police source, in the Karada district in central Baghdad, two parked car bombs exploded, the first one near Kahramana Square, in which one person was killed and 11 injured, and the second one in a parking lot next to the Sabe Al Kusour intersection which killed one person and injured six.

The blasts shook surrounding buildings on Thursday morning. A grey cloud of smoke hung over the blast site in the neighborhood of Karradah where cars were charred and crumpled.

Officials at nearby Ibn al-Nafis and al-Rahibat hospitals confirmed the casualties. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

In the Dora district also in south-west Baghdad, two road-side improvised explosive devices (IED) detonated, killing two people and injuring 10.

A gathering of police patrols at the Sarafiyah bridge in the north of Baghdad were targeted by unknown armed men, who killed six policemen, and injured another three.

A parked car bomb in the Kadimiyah district in north east Baghdad seemingly targeting a chain of restaurants where people had gathered to eat breakfast, killed six people and injured another 15.

Reports claim an explosion, possibly another car bomb, in the Mansour district in west Baghdad killed two people and injured a further five.

A parked car bomb in the Dujail area in south Salah al Din province killed one civilian and injured three others.
In Taji, an area north of Baghdad, a roadside IED injured five people.

A parked car bomb exploded in Beji, an area north of Tikrit, targeting the Beji Criminal Court, in which three civilians were killed and another five injured.

All the attacks, which hit areas across the Iraqi capital, struck between 6:00 am and 8:00 am (03:00 am and 05:00 am GMT), said an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

PHOTO CAPTION

Map of Iraq locating Baghdad

Al-Jazeera