Suicide bombers kill 13 in Baghdad
Two suicide car bombers attacked a police station in a residential area of Baghdad today, killing at least 13 people and wounding 82, police said.
The first driver raced through a police checkpoint guarding the station and exploded his vehicle just outside the two-story building, police said.
Moments later, a second suicide car bomb drove toward the checkpoint’s concrete barriers and exploded just outside it, police said.
Iraqi police stations often are the target of attacks by insurgents who accuse the officers of betraying Iraq by working in co-operation with its elected government and US-led coalition forces.
The blasts occurred at about 10am in Baiyaa, a mixed Sunni-Shiite area of western Baghdad.
Thirteen people died – five policemen and eight civilians – and 82 were wounded: 46 policemen and 36 civilians.
But the casualties could rise as rescue workers searched under rubble at the scene as thick black smoke billowed up into the sky and ambulances with wailing sirens raced to the location.
The blasts also damaged homes and car service centres that are located near the police station.
At Yarmouk Hospital, where the wounded were taken, Hussein Rahim, 22, a car repairman, said: “I was cleaning a car at the garage where I work when suddenly an explosion took place and knocked me over.”
A worker at another car service centre, 25-year-old Mohammed Abdul-Hussein, said: “I heard two explosions and was thrown near the car I was working on. Smoke filled the area and I couldn’t see my fellow workers at first.” He suffered a shoulder wound.
