Car bomb kills 30 in Iraq attack

BAGHDAD – A car bomb killed at least 30 and wounded 38 on Saturday on the outskirts of Baghdad in what appeared to be the latest attack on Iraq’s majority Shi’ite population, a security official said.

More than 200 Iraqi Shi’ites have been killed this week in attacks by Sunni extremists linked to al Qaeda in Iraq’s frontman, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Both Sunni and Shi’ite religious leaders have warned the onslaught could trigger a sectarian war between the two communities.Saturday’s attack occurred at about 7pm in Nahrawan, on the south-eastern outskirts of the capital, as police were concentrating their forces further to the west in a bid to protect Shi’ites on their way to a religious commemoration in the southern city of Karbala.Hundreds of police commandos and Shi’ite militiamen were lining the main highway from the capital to Karbala to provide protection to tens of thousands of Shi’ite pilgrims, many of whom were making the 110km journey on foot.Authorities ordered the tighter security ahead of Monday’s commemoration of the birth more than 1 000 years ago of the Shi’ites’ 12th and last imam, Mohammed al-Mehdi, and in the wake of Zarqawi’s threat of all-out war against Shi’ites who now control the government.On Wednesday, a suicide car bomber killed 112 Shi’ite day labourers in an attack on a Baghdad square where they had gathered to wait for work.On Friday, 11 Shi’ite worshippers were killed as they left the main weekly prayers in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, in the north of the country.In its internet statement on Wednesday, Zarqawi’s group said it was calling for “total war” against Shi’ites in revenge for a massive assault by United States and Iraqi troops on Sunni insurgents in the northern town of Tal Afar.In other violence on Saturday, two Sudanese truck drivers ferrying supplies to US forces were killed in west Baghdad and 11 bodies – handcuffed, blindfolded and shot at close range – were found at various locations – Nampa-AFPBoth Sunni and Shi’ite religious leaders have warned the onslaught could trigger a sectarian war between the two communities.Saturday’s attack occurred at about 7pm in Nahrawan, on the south-eastern outskirts of the capital, as police were concentrating their forces further to the west in a bid to protect Shi’ites on their way to a religious commemoration in the southern city of Karbala.Hundreds of police commandos and Shi’ite militiamen were lining the main highway from the capital to Karbala to provide protection to tens of thousands of Shi’ite pilgrims, many of whom were making the 110km journey on foot.Authorities ordered the tighter security ahead of Monday’s commemoration of the birth more than 1 000 years ago of the Shi’ites’ 12th and last imam, Mohammed al-Mehdi, and in the wake of Zarqawi’s threat of all-out war against Shi’ites who now control the government.On Wednesday, a suicide car bomber killed 112 Shi’ite day labourers in an attack on a Baghdad square where they had gathered to wait for work.On Friday, 11 Shi’ite worshippers were killed as they left the main weekly prayers in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, in the north of the country.In its internet statement on Wednesday, Zarqawi’s group said it was calling for “total war” against Shi’ites in revenge for a massive assault by United States and Iraqi troops on Sunni insurgents in the northern town of Tal Afar.In other violence on Saturday, two Sudanese truck drivers ferrying supplies to US forces were killed in west Baghdad and 11 bodies – handcuffed, blindfolded and shot at close range – were found at various locations – Nampa-AFP