Suicide Bombers: Kill 75, Injure Several in Iraq               
‘Pakistan Times’ Monitoring Desk

BAGHDAD (Iraq): At least 75 people were killed in a spate of car bombing attacks across Iraq on Sunday.

Almost 40 pilgrims’ sustained injuries – of whom, most are reported to be in serious condition.

The car bomb exploded as pilgrims arrived in several vehicles at Baghdad's downtown Karrada district from Karbala in central Iraq

The attack also wounded 40 pilgrims, ten of whom were in critical condition, according to a medic at Baghdad's Ibn Nafis hospital.

A security official said 15 commuters were killed and eight wounded in a separate incident when a suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body on board a minibus as it passed Baghdad's renowned Mustansiriyah University.

Five laborers were killed when a bomb ripped through their bus near Baladruz, 100 kilometers, northeast of Baghdad in the Diyala province, police lieutenant Mohammed Salim said.

Ten other laborers were wounded, he added.

In another attack, a bomb blast at the office of Iraq's political party in the northern restive city of Mosul killed four people, police and party officials said.

Three of those killed at the office of the Iraqi Islamic Party were guards while a fourth guard was wounded, police and party officials said.

A party official in Mosul, Mohammed Shakir al-Ghanam, confirmed the blast and said one of those killed could be a suicide bomber.

A car bomb attack targeting a police checkpoint in Baghdad's southeast Karrada district killed two civilians and wounded six others, police said.

Two women were also killed when their car was hit by a roadside bomb in Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad, police said.

Another woman and an infant were wounded. Two civilians were killed when unknown gunmen shot them south of Baghdad in the district of Mashru, police said.

In another incident, two policemen were killed and seven others were wounded as a roadside bomb they were defusing in the Zulf-al-Sakhar district between Baghdad and the central city of Hilla exploded.

The US military, meanwhile, announced the arrest of 15 militants in a series of raids that targeted Al-Qaeda networks in Iraq.

Details

Suicide bombers killed several people in Baghdad on Sunday, after a meeting of officials of world powers, Iraq and neighboring states agreed it was vital to all to stop sectarian violence spreading across the region.

A car bomber attacked a truck carrying pilgrims in central Baghdad, killing 19 people and wounding 25, police said.

The pilgrims had been returning from the holy city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad, where millions gathered over the weekend for a major Shi'ite ritual despite attacks by suspected insurgents that have killed scores.

A suicide bomber blew himself up on a minibus, killing 10 people and wounding eight, in northeastern Baghdad near the Shi'ite militia stronghold Sadr City police said.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki urged regional and world powers at a conference in Baghdad on Saturday to do all they could to help end sectarian violence which threatens to plunge Iraq into all-out civil war and spread over the region.

Saturday's meeting was a rare opportunity for Washington and its adversaries Tehran and Damascus to sit together at the same table.

Iran said on Sunday it backed any efforts to quell violence in Iraq and described the regional meeting as a "good step."

"We support any efforts that will bring Iraq out of its current problems ... and help the Iraqi security. Iran will be the first supporter of this plan," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.

Syrian newspapers said Damascus supported a "political solution" to end violence in Iraq.

US Troops

But while President Bush on Saturday ordered 4,400 more U.S. troops to be sent to Iraq on top of a force build-up he has already authorized, both Iran and Syria called for a withdrawal of U.S. forces, saying they fueled violence.

The United States has 140,000 troops in Iraq. U.S. and Iraqi troops have launched a security crackdown in Baghdad, seen as the last chance to stop the oil-rich nation tearing itself apart.

After the Baghdad talks among senior officials on Saturday, the United States said Turkey had offered to host a planned follow-up ministerial-level conference in April and that U.S. Secretary of State Ms Condoleezza Rice would attend.

Saturday's conference brought together officials from Iraq's neighbors, the permanent U.N. Security Council members -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France -- and Arab countries.

U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said after the conference he had talked directly to Iranian delegates as well as in a group setting but the top Iranian official said he had not had one-to-one talks with U.S. officials.

Abbas Araghchi, Iran's deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, said the talks had been constructive.
The meeting took place amid mounting tension between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program.

Suspects Captured

Meanwhile another report says that the U.S. and Iraqi forces have captured four suspects for bomb-making and financing insurgents.

Three suspected members of a bomb-making cell have been captured in north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Sunday.

The men were detained during an air assault in Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement. The suspects were accused of planting roadside bombs and car bombs in attacks on American and Iraqi troops, it said.

Also Sunday, the U.S. military announced the capture of a suspected financier of insurgents in Kirkuk province. The suspect was taken into custody last Wednesday, another statement said.●