Councillor among 15 dead in Iraq attack
Fifteen people, including a provincial councillor, were killed and 70 wounded in a twin bomb attack yesterday in Hilla, south of Baghdad, an Iraqi security source said.
"Fifteen people, including provincial councillor Neemat al-Bakri, were killed and 70 wounded in the explosion caused by a car bomb and a mine," said an interior ministry source.
Bakri was a member of the multi-confessional alliance formed by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to contest parliamentary elections scheduled for March next year.
Also identified among those killed was Colonel Taleb al-Chamri, a police officer in charge of local efforts to eradicate improvised explosive devices.
The attack took place in a car park in the centre of Hilla, a mainly Shiite town that is the capital of Babil province.
Witness Fadel Hassa, 25, who has a shop nearby, said a car had stopped at the Babel Hussein bus station around 1:30 pm (1030 GMT) and that the explosion had occurred within moments.
"A few minutes later... police came to disarm a bomb placed some 20 metres (yards) from the site of the first attack, and it exploded as they arrived, causing numerous injuries among passersby and the police."
On Wednesday, 13 people were killed in violence around the country despite security forces ramping up their presence ahead of Christmas and the Shiite commemoration ceremonies of Ashura which culminate on Sunday.
The security situation in Iraq has improved dramatically over the past three years, after Sunni tribesmen and former rebels made common cause with the US military against Al-Qaeda.
But attacks remain common in some areas.
Comments