Suicide bomber kills 2 MPs in Iraq

BAGHDAD – A suicide bomber killed two Iraqi lawmakers and wounded dozens of other people at a restaurant in parliament yesterday while lawmakers were having lunch, officials and local media said.

The bombing represents one of the worst security breaches of the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad that houses parliament and other government buildings since the US-led invasion in 2003. Iraqi media said two lawmakers had been killed, including Mohammed Awadh, a Sunni.A security official confirmed Awadh had been killed and said another parliamentarian was missing and presumed dead.Two other lawmakers were critically wounded, the official said.”We heard a huge explosion inside the restaurant.We went to see what was going on.We saw lots of smoke coming from the hall, with people lying on the ground and pools of blood,” a parliamentary official told Reuters by telephone from the scene.The Iraqi security official said the bomber was wearing a belt packed with explosives.Earlier, a truck bomb killed at least seven people on a key bridge in northern Baghdad, destroying most of the steel structure and sending several cars plunging into the River Tigris below, police said.The blasts come amid a US-backed security crackdown in Baghdad that is regarded as a last-ditch attempt to halt Iraq’s plunge into all-out sectarian civil war.Militants have rarely managed to penetrate the various checkpoints and carry out attacks inside the Green Zone, although they frequently fire mortars and rockets into the area.A Reuters witness said the blast took place at the cashier’s register in the cafe, which is near parliament’s main assembly hall.Parliament was in session on Thursday.”There was a big blast, I saw the fire.There were many, many wounded.Windows were shattered,” said the witness who was lightly wounded in the arm.A leading Shi’ite lawmaker, Hadi al-Amiri, blamed poor security for the explosion.Recently, the US military said two suicide vests had been found inside the zone, a sprawling area that also houses the US embassy.One of Iraq’s vice presidents survived a bomb attack at a government ministry outside the Green Zone in February.A deputy prime minister was wounded last month in a suicide bomb attack at a prayer hall in his compound in the capital.Nampa-ReutersIraqi media said two lawmakers had been killed, including Mohammed Awadh, a Sunni.A security official confirmed Awadh had been killed and said another parliamentarian was missing and presumed dead.Two other lawmakers were critically wounded, the official said.”We heard a huge explosion inside the restaurant.We went to see what was going on.We saw lots of smoke coming from the hall, with people lying on the ground and pools of blood,” a parliamentary official told Reuters by telephone from the scene.The Iraqi security official said the bomber was wearing a belt packed with explosives.Earlier, a truck bomb killed at least seven people on a key bridge in northern Baghdad, destroying most of the steel structure and sending several cars plunging into the River Tigris below, police said.The blasts come amid a US-backed security crackdown in Baghdad that is regarded as a last-ditch attempt to halt Iraq’s plunge into all-out sectarian civil war.Militants have rarely managed to penetrate the various checkpoints and carry out attacks inside the Green Zone, although they frequently fire mortars and rockets into the area.A Reuters witness said the blast took place at the cashier’s register in the cafe, which is near parliament’s main assembly hall.Parliament was in session on Thursday.”There was a big blast, I saw the fire.There were many, many wounded.Windows were shattered,” said the witness who was lightly wounded in the arm.A leading Shi’ite lawmaker, Hadi al-Amiri, blamed poor security for the explosion.Recently, the US military said two suicide vests had been found inside the zone, a sprawling area that also houses the US embassy.One of Iraq’s vice presidents survived a bomb attack at a government ministry outside the Green Zone in February.A deputy prime minister was wounded last month in a suicide bomb attack at a prayer hall in his compound in the capital.Nampa-Reuters