Assault on Iraq funeral, other attacks kill 96

english.ahram.org.eg...

In a fresh wave of deadly attacks in Iraq, at least 96 people are killed and hundreds injured; one of the largest single terrorist assaults on civilians in the country

Two suicide bombers, one in an explosives-laden car and the other on foot, struck a cluster of funeral tents packed with mourning families in a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, the deadliest in a string of attacks around Iraq that killed at least 96 people on Saturday.

Thousands of Iraqis have been killed in violent attacks in recent months — a level of bloodshed not seen since Iraq pulled back from the brink of civil war in 2008 — despite appeals for restraint from Shiite and Sunni political leaders.

The attack on the funeral was one of the largest single terrorist assaults on civilians in Iraq in recent years. It happened shortly before sunset in the densely populated Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in northeastern Baghdad.

Police said at least 72 people were killed and more than 120 were wounded in that attack. One bomber was able to drive up near the tent before detonating his deadly payload, and another on foot blew himself up nearby, police said.

The explosions set the tents and several nearby cars on fire, sending a towering plume of thick black smoke over the city.

"This funeral was not a military post or a ministry building, yet it was still targeted," Abdul-Khaliq said. "This shows that no place and no one is safe in Iraq."

Less than two hours after the funeral attack, another car bomb blast struck a commercial street in the nearby Ur neighborhood, killing nine people and wounding 14, according to police.

Gunmen later shot up a shop that has been discretely selling liquor in the largely Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah, killing four people, police said.

Earlier in the day, insurgents launched a suicide attack on a police commando headquarters in the city of Beiji, an oil refining center 250 kilometers (115 miles) north of Baghdad. Guards managed to kill one suicide bomber, but the three others were able to set off their explosive belts inside the compound, killing seven policemen and wounding 21 others, police said.

In other violence, gunmen shot and killed two prison guards after storming their houses in a village near the restive city of Mosul early Saturday. Two soldiers were killed and four others were wounded when a roadside bomb struck their convoy in Mosul, which is 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of the Iraqi capital.

More than 4,000 people have been killed in violent attacks between April and August, United Nations figures show. Another 493 have died so far in September, according to an Associated Press tally.

May they all rest in peace and those responsible for these deaths meet their justice one way or another.

Who in their right mind would think that after blowing up men, women, and children at a funeral you would be granted a spot in Heaven? The only god I know who would reward such devilish acts is the Devil. Who would want to sleep with the guy who blew up people mourning at a funeral but a demon?

There is the chance these suicide bombers were forced into it, as terrorists are known to due to fathers, and if that's the case may God rest their souls.

Does anyone still support the Iraq war that toppled Saddam? The war that was justified from lies and not one single person in a position of leadership has taken any responsibility nor have they been charged with a crime, fired, suspended, fined, slapped on the wrist, nothing. As if that weren't bad enough future Middle Eastern wars, conflicts, drone strike, etc, are always around the corner, always.

Can you imagine the West is supplying aid to the Syrian rebels who infested with terrorist armies? Who in the right mind would send any aid, from food to arms, if there was even the slightest chance terrorists could get their hands on it, especially considering neighboring Iraq is in such turmoil?

Are our gov'ts really this stupid or are they following an agenda, their agenda? I think the answer is obvious.

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