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Cairo
31 July 2009
A series of bomb blasts tore through crowds of Shi'ite worshippers as
they left mosques after Friday prayers in Baghdad, killing at least 28
people and wounding more than 130. Shi'ite political leaders are
accusing the government of negligence in protecting them.
Television images showed
young men picking through the debris of one bloody explosion at the
Shurufi Mosque in the Baghdad suburb of al Shaab. Prayer carpets were
shredded and tattered, the ground was spattered with blood, and some of
the rubble continued to smolder.
One young man said that an
officer came with two soldiers to search the area just before the
explosion. He says they searched one car, but not the one that later
exploded.
A young woman, who identified herself as a supporter
of militant Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said the government was
doing a poor job of protecting her area.
She shouts that someone must be held accountable in every area for what's going on.
Falah Shanshal, a member of the Iraqi parliament from the Sadr bloc also demanded accountability.
He
says, "We demand the Iraqi government take responsibility by purging
the security and defense establishments and punishing the criminals."
He called for an investigation.
Separate explosions in the
Baghdad districts of Zafaraniyah, Kamaliya and al Elam left several
dead and over a dozen wounded. Back to back explosions near Diyala
Bridge, south of Baghdad killed and wounded more than a dozen others.
The
most serious and bloody bombings in recent months have targeted Shi'ite
Muslim neighborhoods, leading to fears that al Qaida or other Sunni
extremists may be trying to reignite sectarian strife.
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