Baghdad hotel bombed as 45 killed in Iraq
Pastor Dale Morgan
Tuesday June 26, 1:36 AM
*Baghdad hotel bombed as 45 killed in Iraq*
Suicide bombers struck a hotel in the heart of Baghdad and police
targets in a wave of bombings on Monday that killed at least 45 people,
including tribal leaders who have vowed to fight Al-Qaeda.
A suicide bomber blew himself up in the crowded lobby of Baghdad's
Al-Mansour Melia hotel during an informal gathering of local tribal
sheikhs, both Sunni and Shiite.
"(The attack) targeted the tribes that are fighting terrorism," said
Sheikh Mahmud Daham from the restive Sunni province of Anbar west of
Baghdad, who was in the hotel at the time.
An AFP correspondent said charred bodies of the victims and many of the
wounded were lying near the reception desk in the rubble-strewn lobby,
and that the ceiling had collapsed, leaving clusters of white tiles
hanging from wires.
The blast damaged the stairway, the elevators, and the ceiling of the
first floor of the hotel, which lies on the west bank of the Tigris
river and houses diplomats and some foreign media organisations.
Patches of blood stained the marble floor and scraps of human flesh were
left stuck to the concrete pillars.
At least 12 people were killed including Shiite and Sunni tribal
sheikhs, and 21 wounded, staff and security officials said.
One of those killed was Fassal al-Gawud, an ex-governor of Anbar, where
several tribal sheikhs have recently allied with US and Iraqi forces
against Al-Qaeda, according to security officials.
Hussein Shaalan, a Shiite tribal chief from the central city of
Diwaniyah was also killed along with his son and a bodyguard.
A security source had identified Hussein Shaalan as a Shiite MP bearing
the same name, but this was later denied by MP Aliah Nassef from the
Iraqi National List of former premier Iyad Allawi.
Other victims included Rahim al-Maliki, a poet employed by Iraq's
state-run Iraqiyah television, and two Sunni tribal sheikhs.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki condemned what he called an attempt to
"conceal the terrorists' defeats in Anbar and Diyala provinces at the
hands of our armed forces and the tribes."
"This will not break the resolve of the sheikhs and the sons of the
tribes of Anbar, but will increase their determination to purify their
land from the evil ones and the foreign infiltrators," he added.
Two other other suicide bombings killed another 33 people, mostly policemen.
The string of explosions came as US and Iraqi troops channelled
thousands of troops into offensives across the country aimed at bringing
Iraq's Sunni-led insurgency to heal.
In the largest operation, 10,000 US and Iraqi troops slogged their way
through the sixth day of a major air and ground assault on the restive
city of Baquba, which had become a central Al-Qaeda stronghold.
But US commanders have admitted that most of the senior insurgent
leadership fled the initial assault, and the drumbeat of attacks on
Monday seemed to defy expectations that the troop "surge" would work.
"This sends a terrible message about the situation. We are now four
months into the Baghdad security plan, and if the terrorists can
penetrate such a place in Baghdad it is not very encouraging," said
Ahmed Chalabi, a prominent Iraqi politician involved in national
reconciliation efforts.
Chalabi, who visited the scene, said some of the slain sheikhs had been
in the process of joining the Iraqi government and the US military in
opposing Al-Qaeda in Iraq, a campaign he said would continue despite the
attack.
The deadliest strike on Monday was in the northern oil refining town of
Baiji where 25 people were killed and 50 wounded when a bomber ploughed
an explosives-laden oil tanker into the police headquarters.
"A suicide bomber driving an oil tanker tried to break into the building
but he blew himself up at the gate because he could not get in. It
resulted in huge damage to the building," said Police Captain Ahmed
Hussein of Baiji.
"All the wounded are civilians from shops near the headquarters, but
most of those killed are prisoners and policemen," he said.
In central Iraq, in the town of Hilla, a suicide car bomber slammed into
a crowd of recruits waiting outside a police academy, killing eight and
wounding several dozen.
"The recruits were just a week away from their graduation," said Police
Lieutenant Mohammed al-Dulaimi of Hilla police.
An AFP reporter said the attack gouged out a large crater in the middle
of the street. A number of nearby buildings, including a school, and
many shops were damaged by the blast.
Meanwhile, three foreign private security contractors were killed in
clashes with militants near the southern Iraqi port city of Basra, a
senior police official told AFP.