BAGHDAD – Bombers struck at least three times in Baghdad at rush hour on Monday morning, killing at least 18 people near a Red Cross building and two police stations.
A blast near an International Committee of the Red Cross building killed 10 people and wounded at least 15, an ICRC official said. One witness said the bomb appeared to have been packed into an ambulance.
In the northeast of the Iraqi capital, a U.S. military policeman said eight people had been killed in a blast near a police station.
Reuters reporters at the scene of a third explosion near a police station saw four people being carried out of the rubble and it was not clear if any of them were alive.
Reuters photographer Akram Saleh said he had counted 12 bodies at a central Baghdad hospital, where officials said one belonged to a foreigner, whose nationality was unclear. Witnesses said the first blast went off at about 8.30 a.m. (0530 GMT), when a car drove towards the ICRC building. „I was standing at the gate when a car came driving very fast and smashed against the wall and exploded,” said an ICRC guard who gave his name as Sabah. „I saw an ambulance car coming very fast towards the barrier and it exploded,” another guard said. ICRC official Pascal Jansen told reporters 10 people had been killed. „The death toll is 10 — two Iraqi guards working for the Red Cross and eight casual labourers going past in a lorry.” He said 15 Iraqi staff of the ICRC had been wounded, while international staff had only superficial injuries. Another Reuters photographer said he saw at least three bodies lying among debris near the ICRC explosion. „The force of the blast was so huge their clothes were blown right off,” Chris Helgren said. An Iraqi woman said two of her children had been wounded in the same explosion. „We were sleeping and the house came down on our heads,” Muntaha Khalil told Reuters. In the northern Shaab district, a U.S. military policeman said eight people were killed near a police station. „There are eight dead, several walking wounded,” Sergeant Mike Toole said. Witnesses to another blast said they had seen a vehicle heading towards a police station in the Baya district in southwest Baghdad. „It was a Landcruiser car that was speeding towards the police station. The (guards) fired on it four times. It turned right and blew up,” local resident Mohammed Ali said. Three wrecked cars were outside the building, one of them completely destroyed. A car engine lay smoking nearby. The explosions plunged the city into fear and chaos on the first day of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, as ambulance sirens wailed and black smoke billowed into the air. A U.S. military spokesman confirmed there had been a series of blasts, but had no details.
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In the northeast of the Iraqi capital, a U.S. military policeman said eight people had been killed in a blast near a police station.
Reuters reporters at the scene of a third explosion near a police station saw four people being carried out of the rubble and it was not clear if any of them were alive.
Reuters photographer Akram Saleh said he had counted 12 bodies at a central Baghdad hospital, where officials said one belonged to a foreigner, whose nationality was unclear. Witnesses said the first blast went off at about 8.30 a.m. (0530 GMT), when a car drove towards the ICRC building. „I was standing at the gate when a car came driving very fast and smashed against the wall and exploded,” said an ICRC guard who gave his name as Sabah. „I saw an ambulance car coming very fast towards the barrier and it exploded,” another guard said. ICRC official Pascal Jansen told reporters 10 people had been killed. „The death toll is 10 — two Iraqi guards working for the Red Cross and eight casual labourers going past in a lorry.” He said 15 Iraqi staff of the ICRC had been wounded, while international staff had only superficial injuries. Another Reuters photographer said he saw at least three bodies lying among debris near the ICRC explosion. „The force of the blast was so huge their clothes were blown right off,” Chris Helgren said. An Iraqi woman said two of her children had been wounded in the same explosion. „We were sleeping and the house came down on our heads,” Muntaha Khalil told Reuters. In the northern Shaab district, a U.S. military policeman said eight people were killed near a police station. „There are eight dead, several walking wounded,” Sergeant Mike Toole said. Witnesses to another blast said they had seen a vehicle heading towards a police station in the Baya district in southwest Baghdad. „It was a Landcruiser car that was speeding towards the police station. The (guards) fired on it four times. It turned right and blew up,” local resident Mohammed Ali said. Three wrecked cars were outside the building, one of them completely destroyed. A car engine lay smoking nearby. The explosions plunged the city into fear and chaos on the first day of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, as ambulance sirens wailed and black smoke billowed into the air. A U.S. military spokesman confirmed there had been a series of blasts, but had no details.
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