Car bombs kill dozens at bus station and bridge

Published on Sunday 15 April 2007 01:25

A CAR bomb blasted through a busy bus station near one of Iraq's holiest shrines yesterday, killing at least 56 people.

Separately, a suicide car bomber killed 10 people on a major bridge in downtown Baghdad - the second attack on a Tigris river crossing in a week. However, the Jadriyah bridge suffered little damage.

The bus station bombing occurred about 200 yards from the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, where the grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad is buried - one of the most important sites for Shi'ites.

At least six children were among the dead, according to an Al-Hussein Hospital official. Iranian and Pakistani pilgrims were also among the victims.

"I want my father. Where is my father?" cried out 11-year-old Sajad Kadhim as he lay on the grounds of the hospital, where doctors were treating his burns.

"My father was holding my hand and there was a big explosion. I don't know where my father is," the boy wailed.

A 72-year-old woman who called herself Um Hussein ran through the hospital corridors looking for her daughter and six-year-old grandson.

"They went to buy lunch," she said, pounding her head in grief. "What did they do to deserve this? To whom should I complain? There is no government to protect us," she cried.

Hundreds of grief-stricken people swarmed around ambulances. Police fired into the air to clear roads, but angry mobs attacked them and set two police vehicles on fire.

Rioters surrounded the Karbala governor's office and demanded his and provincial council members' resignations - blaming them for lax security.

A curfew was imposed and the city's entrances were sealed off.

More than 70 people were also wounded in the attack, said another hospital official.

Karbala lies 50 miles south of Baghdad, and is the destination of an annual Shi'ite pilgrimage. Hundreds of Shi'ite faithful were killed last month during this year's pilgrimage.

In Baghdad, at least 15 people were wounded in the Jadriyah bridge bombing - the second such attack this week on infrastructure connecting the Iraqi capital's two sides.

Last Thursday, a suicide truck bomb completely collapsed the al-Sarafiyah bridge in northern Baghdad, killing 11 people.

Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that British forces have killed eight Iraqi militia laying roadside bombs near where four soldiers were killed in Basra last week.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said two bomb teams were hit on Friday night on the outskirts of the Hyall Shuala District, west of Basra City.

Two suicide bombers killed themselves in an attack on US diplomatic offices in Morocco's commercial hub Casablanca yesterday, the scene of three suicide blasts four days ago.

Witnesses said the first blast happened about six yards from the US cultural centre and the second went off about 60 yards away from the US consulate.