Suicide bomber targets holy shrine in Baghdad

Shi'ites struck on key holiday; 38 people die; Neighborhood suffers second major attack

A security guard stood watch after a suicide bomber struck among pilgrims in front of a holy Shi'ite shrine yesterday in Baghdad. January could be a particularly violent month as Iraq prepares for provincial elections, US military officials have warned. (Reuters/ IRNA)

BAGHDAD - As Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims made their way to a holy shrine in Baghdad yesterday to mark one of the sect's most important religious holidays, a female suicide bomber detonated her explosives at a crowded checkpoint, killing as many as 38 people and wounding 72, Iraqi police said.

It was one of the capital's worst attacks in months and the second major bombing in the predominantly Shi'ite neighborhood of Kazimiyah since Dec. 27, when a minibus exploded, killing 24.

Violence in Iraq has declined significantly, but suicide attacks remain a constant threat. US military officials have warned that January could be a particularly violent month as the country prepares for provincial elections. Insurgents also might try to assert themselves as the United States hands over military control of the country to Iraqis in preparation for the withdrawal of US troops by the end of 2011.

Witnesses described a chaotic and tragic scene of dozens of dead and injured men, women, and children - most on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Kadhim, considered the seventh imam of the Shi'ite sect. Thousands of pilgrims are visiting the holy site to mark Ashura on Jan. 7, the anniversary of the battlefield death in 680 of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the prophet Mohammed.

The Ashura is a defining event in the Shi'ite faith, with its mourning of Hussein's death in battle. Militants have targeted Kazimiyah repeatedly because of its significance to Iraq's Shi'ite majority. At least 17 pilgrims from Iran, which also has a Shi'ite majority, were among the victims, police said.

"I saw the people lying on the ground," said Assad, who declined to give his last name. "They were like sheep, more than human. Is that acceptable? Oh, my god."

Heider abu Hussein, 32, who owns a bookstore near the site, said the bomber exploded like a flower from the middle of a crowd, sending people and body parts flying everywhere.

"Can anyone help us? Can anyone help us?" The bookseller's friend Mohammed yelled into the chaotic crowd. "We need help here!"

The friends began carrying people to safety when the bookseller spotted an infant, maybe 2 months old, lying on the ground and crying.

"Then I saw his mother," the bookseller said. "She was moving in pain. She started to point at me. She couldn't speak. In her gesture, she was telling me to give her baby back. Then she collapsed. I thought she was dead."

The baby began vomiting blood and was bleeding from the stomach, where he had been struck by shrapnel. At the hospital, they discovered that his mother was alive but seriously injured.

Relatives were able to take care of the baby, the bookseller said.

As police quickly cleared the scene and washed away the bloody street, angry Kazimiyah residents criticized officials for the security breach.

"The security procedures absolutely are not good," said Abu Zainab, 61, who carried injured people from the scene in handcarts. "The narrow streets of Kazimiyah are not secured. Anyone can enter the city easily."

Zainab said he tried to prompt a police officer to help him immediately after the bombing, but the officer refused, saying he had not been given such orders.

"I took off my shoes and I hit him with it," Zainab said.

Some Iraqis blamed lax checkpoints, where they witnessed officers and soldiers playing with cellphones. Residents said the military had set up a couple of main checkpoints, but there were several other entrances that were easy to pass through.

"Every year, the people of Kazimiyah take the responsibility of protecting the holy city," said Heider Fahad, 22, owner of a nearby cellphone shop. "But this year, the army and the police did not let the civilians participate in this searching. There are a lot of entrances, and someone who wants to commit such activities can enter the holy city. It was a breach."

Qassim Atta, a spokesman for the Iraqi army in Baghdad, said in a statement that security procedures in Kazimiyah are being followed according to plan. The senior US military commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker blamed Al Qaeda in Iraq for the attack in a statement and warned that the group remains a dangerous threat.

Ali Adeeb, a Shi'ite lawmaker, called for tighter security measures in Baghdad but denied that hard-line Sunni groups were making a comeback. "Security has improved, but there was some negligence and carelessness by the security leadership," Adeeb said.