73 dead, 162 wounded by Iraq suicide bomb
At least 73 people were killed and 162 wounded early today when a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle near a group of construction workers in the north Baghdad district of Kazimiyah, police said.
The blast occurred at 6:30am at Oruba square where a crowd of day labourers had assembled before going to work on nearby construction sites, said police Maj. Musa Abdel Kerim. He said the suicide driver drove his car into the gathering before detonating the explosive charge.
A large number of dead and wounded had been taken to four medical facilities, including the Kazimiyah and Yarmouk hospitals, he said.
Lt. Col. Moayad Zubair said 73 people died in the blast and 162 were injured. The number of fatalities was expected to rise because some of the wounded were unlikely to survive, Zubair said.
The population of Kazimiyah district is almost entirely Shiite. Sunni militants have mounted a series of attacks on the Shiites in an apparent effort to provoke retaliation and a sectarian conflict.
Two weeks ago, nearly 1,000 people were killed in a stampede on a nearby bridge during a Shiite religious procession. Many were trampled and crushed to death, but others drowned after falling 30 feet into the Tigris.
