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A 13-year-old girl has blown herself up at a checkpoint in central Iraq,
killing four Sunni guards and wounding at least 15 civilians. Last Updated: 12:15AM GMT 11 Nov 2008 Suicide bomber strikes in Baghdad killing at least 28 people
Many children were among the casualties of the twin bomb attack.
The attacker took place at a checkpoint in Baquba, capital of Diyala
province, which is manned by the former Sunni insurgents who switched
sides to battle al-Qaeda, police said. Fifteen people, including three women, were also injured in the attack
shortly before noon (0900 GMT), they said. Dr Ahmed Fuad at Baquba General Hospital confirmed the number of killed
and wounded and said the bomber appeared to be a 13-year-old girl. Diyala is one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq. Insurgent groups and
Al-Qaeda have continued launching attacks there despite a massive
military crackdown by US and Iraqi forces. A number of attacks in Diyala, especially suicide bombings, have been
carried out by women. The attack came as another suicide bomber struck a Baghdad crowd that
had gathered where an explosion moments earlier damaged a bus full of
schoolgirls, with both blasts killing at least 28 people and wounding 68
others, officials said. The twin Baghdad blasts – the deadliest in the city in months – occurred
moments apart during the morning rush hour in the mostly Shiite Kasrah
section of the Azamiyah district in the northern part of the Iraqi capital. Police said the first explosion damaged a minibus carrying young girls
to school. The second happened when a suicide bomber detonated an
explosive belt in the middle of a crowd that had gathered around the
vehicle. Police officials giving the toll were unclear how many died in each blast. The Interior Ministry, which controls the police, gave the casualty
figure of 28 dead and 68 wounded. A check of four hospitals in the
Baghdad area indicated 29 were killed, and hospital officials said some
of the wounded were in critical condition. The blasts shattered storefronts along the crowded street and set more
than a dozen cars on fire. Abbas Fadhil, 45, said he was working in a nearby restaurant near where
the blasts went off. "I rushed to the site and saw several girl students trapped in a bus and
screaming for help. We took the girls outside the bus and rushed them to
the hospitals," he said, standing in front of the damaged restaurant –
his white shirt soaked with blood. "This is a criminal act that targeted innocent people who were heading
to work and school while the politicians are busy with their personal
greed and ambitions," Mr Fadhil said. TV footage showed the minibus pocked with shrapnel marks with the floor
soaked in blood. Girls' shoes were scattered about amid the wreckage. No group claimed responsibility for the blasts – the single deadliest
attack in the Iraqi capital in weeks. But suicide attacks against Shiite civilians are the hallmark of
al-Qaeda in Iraq, which maintains a limited presence in Baghdad despite
military setbacks and the Sunni revolt against the terror movement last
year. Violence is down significantly in Baghdad since the worst of the
Sunni-Shiite fighting in 2006 and 2007. In recent weeks, however, there has been a rise in small-scale bombings
during the morning rush hour – targeting Iraqi police and army patrols,
government officials heading for work or commuters, in an attempt to
undermine public confidence.
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