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Triple bombing kills 43 in Baghdad

Triple bombing kills 43 in Baghdad

BAGHDAD – Three car bombs killed more than 40 people in a co-ordinated attack on a Baghdad bus station in the morning rush hour yesterday, ending a lull in insurgent attacks as Iraqi leaders resumed talks on a new constitution.

At least 43 people were killed and 76 wounded, an official in the Interior Ministry said, adding: “The casualty figure could rise as there are charred bodies all over the place.” Police and medics were among the dead, struck by the third bomb between the bus station and the nearby Kindi hospital as victims of the earlier blasts were being taken there.One witness said a bus about to depart for Iraq’s second city of Basra, in the Shi’ite south, had been incinerated by the blast and it appeared many of passengers were killed.The multiple explosions suggested an attack by one of the Islamist radical groups active in the Sunni Arab insurgency against the US-backed, Shi’ite-led government – although unlike many bombings by groups like al Qaeda, police said they did not think any of the cars was driven by a suicide attacker.If not, then it would have been an elaborately laid trap to place and time a car bomb to go off just at the point where rescue services were moving casualties toward medical aid.The US military said in a statement one bomb – it was not clear which in the sequence – had been detonated by its driver.Later, police said it seemed all the bombs were in empty cars.CONSTITUTION DEADLOCK It was the first attack on this scale in Baghdad for nearly a month and came hours before political leaders were to resume efforts to resolve deadlock on a new constitution, following their failure to produce a draft by Monday’s midnight deadline.Parliament gave leaders of rival sectarian and ethnic groups a further week to settle their differences.Divisions over the extent to which regions should have autonomy and control over oil and other resources remain at the heart of the dispute, negotiators said.Bahaa al-Araji, a leading lawmaker from the Shi’ite majority on parliament’s constitution drafting committee, said talks were getting under way again in late morning.Only brief informal contacts had taken place on Tuesday.Saleh al-Mutlak, a negotiator from the Sunni minority that dominated under Saddam Hussein, said his group was still opposing provisions that might give Islamist Shi’ites control over the southern oilfields and allow Kurds to expand their region’s boundaries to annexe the oil resources of the north.Tensions are high between Arabs, Kurds and ethnic Turkmen in the northern oil capital of Kirkuk, where six Iraqi soldiers were killed by gunmen as they drove to work yesterday.Senior party leaders would gather later in the day for separate talks on the constitution, Mutlak said.US officials say a constitution deal could undermine the revolt among the Sunni Arab minority.Militants have threatened to kill Sunni leaders who join the US-sponsored political process, however, and to continue their campaign come what may.The first two bombs, shortly before 8am, sent a huge plume of black smoke into the clear sky over the city.One went off close to an entrance to the Nahda bus station, where coaches, minibuses and taxis ferry travellers to and from towns across Iraq.A second went off inside a few minutes later.A quarter of an hour or so after that, as police and medics were moving casualties to Kindi hospital nearby, the third bomb detonated, killing some of those who had come to help.”We heard an explosion in the garage, we went there and ran towards the buses for Kut, Basra and Amara,” eyewitness Ahmed Jabur told Reuters at the scene.”A coach blew up.When we were leaving, another one blew up in the middle of police cars.”A Reuters reporter saw blazing buses and cars and two lifeless bodies on the street.US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in remarks more critical than those of President George W.Bush, called the delay in drafting a new constitution “not helpful”.”The sooner it is done, the fewer Iraqis that will be killed, the fewer Americans or coalition forces that will be killed,” he said.Asked whether the delay might embolden the insurgency, Rumsfeld responded, “I think that a delay is not helpful.”- Nampa-ReutersPolice and medics were among the dead, struck by the third bomb between the bus station and the nearby Kindi hospital as victims of the earlier blasts were being taken there.One witness said a bus about to depart for Iraq’s second city of Basra, in the Shi’ite south, had been incinerated by the blast and it appeared many of passengers were killed.The multiple explosions suggested an attack by one of the Islamist radical groups active in the Sunni Arab insurgency against the US-backed, Shi’ite-led government – although unlike many bombings by groups like al Qaeda, police said they did not think any of the cars was driven by a suicide attacker.If not, then it would have been an elaborately laid trap to place and time a car bomb to go off just at the point where rescue services were moving casualties toward medical aid.The US military said in a statement one bomb – it was not clear which in the sequence – had been detonated by its driver.Later, police said it seemed all the bombs were in empty cars.CONSTITUTION DEADLOCK It was the first attack on this scale in Baghdad for nearly a month and came hours before political leaders were to resume efforts to resolve deadlock on a new constitution, following their failure to produce a draft by Monday’s midnight deadline.Parliament gave leaders of rival sectarian and ethnic groups a further week to settle their differences.Divisions over the extent to which regions should have autonomy and control over oil and other resources remain at the heart of the dispute, negotiators said.Bahaa al-Araji, a leading lawmaker from the Shi’ite majority on parliament’s constitution drafting committee, said talks were getting under way again in late morning.Only brief informal contacts had taken place on Tuesday.Saleh al-Mutlak, a negotiator from the Sunni minority that dominated under Saddam Hussein, said his group was still opposing provisions that might give Islamist Shi’ites control over the southern oilfields and allow Kurds to expand their region’s boundaries to annexe the oil resources of the north.Tensions are high between Arabs, Kurds and ethnic Turkmen in the northern oil capital of Kirkuk, where six Iraqi soldiers were killed by gunmen as they drove to work yesterday.Senior party leaders would gather later in the day for separate talks on the constitution, Mutlak said.US officials say a constitution deal could undermine the revolt among the Sunni Arab minority.Militants have threatened to kill Sunni leaders who join the US-sponsored political process, however, and to continue their campaign come what may.The first two bombs, shortly before 8am, sent a huge plume of black smoke into the clear sky over the city.One went off close to an entrance to the Nahda bus station, where coaches, minibuses and taxis ferry travellers to and from towns across Iraq.A second went off inside a few minutes later.A quarter of an hour or so after that, as police and medics were moving casualties to Kindi hospital nearby, the third bomb detonated, killing some of those who had come to help.”We heard an explosion in the garage, we went there and ran towards the buses for Kut, Basra and Amara,” eyewitness Ahmed Jabur told Reuters at the scene.”A coach blew up.When we were leaving, another one blew up in the middle of police cars.”A Reuters reporter saw blazing buses and cars and two lifeless bodies on the street.US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in remarks more critical than those of President George W.Bush, called the delay in drafting a new constitution “not helpful”.”The sooner it is done, the fewer Iraqis that will be killed, the fewer Americans or coalition forces that will be killed,” he said.Asked whether the delay might embolden the insurgency, Rumsfeld responded, “I think that a delay is not helpful.”- Nampa-Reuters

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