Reuters AlertNet Lite - Suicide bomber kills 40 at Baghdad college

Reuters AlertNet Full site

NEWSDESK

Suicide bomber kills 40 at Baghdad college

25 Feb 2007 19:04:57 GMT
Source: Reuters

Previous | Next

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi (L) talks to Iraq's Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi (C) and Adnan al-Dulaimi, leader of the Iraqi Accordance Front during a luncheon meeting in Baghdad, February 24, 2007. Picture taken February 24, 2007.
REUTERS/HO

(Adds statement by Sadr, Talabani ill)

By Dean Yates

BAGHDAD, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with explosives killed 40 people in a Baghdad college on Sunday, a day after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki expressed optimism about a U.S.-backed security crackdown in the capital.

In a blow for Maliki, anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr reversed his previous support for the offensive, saying it would not work because U.S. forces were involved.

"There is no benefit in this security plan because it is controlled by the occupiers," a statement from Sadr said.

Until now, Sadr has been broadly supportive of the plan, seen as a last ditch attempt to halt all-out civil war in Iraq.

Guards stopped the bomber in the lobby of the Baghdad Economy and Administration College, attended by Shi'ite Muslim and Sunni Arab students, but the man managed to blow himself up.

Police put the death toll at 40, with 35 people wounded. Most of the victims were students, witnesses said.

"May God curse the terrorists," some students shouted after the attack. Others sat on the ground outside weeping.

A string of car bombings and rocket salvos also hit Baghdad on Sunday as U.S. and Iraqi security forces stepped up efforts to drive Sunni insurgents out of the capital and stamp out Sunni-Shi'ite sectarian violence.

Washington has accused Shi'ite Iran of fuelling violence in Iraq and says sophisticated Iranian-made weapons have been increasingly used by Iraqi militias to kill U.S. troops.

But Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told CNN Iranians had stopped training and providing weapons to Iraqi Shi'ite militants to give the security plan a chance to work.

"There is no doubt in my mind that recently in the last few weeks they have changed their position and stopped a lot of their tactics and interference in Iraq's internal affairs," Rubaie said in an interview. It was unclear if he was referring to Iran's government or other Iranians.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani meanwhile has fallen ill and is travelling to neighbouring Jordan for tests, his office said.

"He had a drop in blood pressure. Doctors said he needs further tests," said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, a Kurd very close to Talabani, a former Kurdish guerrilla leader.

BLOOD

A professor at the Baghdad college said the suicide attack occurred as students were leaving morning classes and arriving for afternoon lessons. Others doing exams were wounded by flying glass that tore through their classroom, the professor said.

"There were bodies everywhere," said the professor, who declined to be identified.

The blast left large pools of blood in the college reception area. Textbooks and pens lay scattered on the floor.

The college is part of nearby Mustansiriya University, hit by twin bombs last month that killed 70 people, mainly students.

Maliki said on Saturday he was optimistic about the 10-day-old security plan, adding that U.S. and Iraqi forces had killed about 400 suspected militants since it began.

Among the attacks on Sunday, a car bomb killed one person and wounded four not far from the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, police said. They said the embassy was not the target.

Sadr's statement praised Iraq's security forces.

"You are able to protect Iraq and its people by your courage and sacrifice, not by the airplanes and tanks of the occupier," said the firebrand, who led his Mehdi Army militia in two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004.

Sadr has since become an important player in Iraqi politics, and is a key supporter of Maliki.

Iraq's president has said Sadr had told some of his Mehdi militia commanders to leave Iraq to ensure the security plan was a success. Sadr himself has not been seen in weeks, with the U.S. military saying he is in Iran and his aides insisting the young cleric is still in Iraq.

Rubaie said there was some evidence Iranians had been supporting some Shi'ite militia groups fighting U.S. troops.

U.S. officials say the Quds Force, a unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was arming and training such groups.

Washington is especially concerned about explosively formed penetrators, a sophisticated Iranian-made roadside bomb the U.S. military says has killed 170 U.S. soldiers in Iraa since 2004.

(Additional reporting by Waleed Ibrahim, Mussab Al-Khairalla, Aseel Kami, Ibon Villelabeitia and Claudia Parsons)

AlertNet news is provided by

Email this article Send comments

Countries

Small country map
© 2004 Europa Technologies Ltd.

Reset map

• Iraq profile
· View map

MORE >>

NGO latest

• American Jewish World Service Launches National Targeted Divestment Initiative Against Sudan
AJWS - USA

• WER calls for greater international response to Iraqi refugee crisis
WER - UK

• Designed to Last, New Lift House Holds Promise for Louisiana--and Beyond
Oxfam - USA

• WORLD VISION EXPERT: 'AMAZING GRACE' MOVIE IS "A RALLYING CALL TO COMBAT MODERN SLAVERY"
WV - USA

• WORLD VISION EXPERT: 'AMAZING GRACE' MOVIE IS "A RALLYING CALL TO COMBAT MODERN SLAVERY"
WV - USA

MORE >>

Latest news

• Iraqi president to Jordan for blood pressure tests

• Iraq's president sick, goes to Jordan for tests

• INTERVIEW-EU dangles prospects of new aid to Palestinians

• Senate Democrat aims for U.S. troop limits in Iraq

• Iranians stop giving weapons to Iraq - Iraq official

MORE >>

Last updated:Sun Feb 25 19:05:08 2007