Suicide bomber kills 21 at Iraq banquet

Monday 25th August, 06:23 AM JST

BAGHDAD —

A suicide bomber killed at least 21 people and wounded 32 when he attacked a dinner banquet attended by police and members of an anti-Qaida Awakening group near Baghdad Sunday, a security official said.

The bomber blew up his explosives-laden vest as police and members of the Sunni Awakening group sat down to dinner in the Abu Ghraib district, about 30 kilometers west of Baghdad, the interior ministry official said.

Aziz Moklif Ghatha al-Zubai, one of the local chiefs of Awakening group who organised the dinner in the district’s Al-Zaidan village, was killed in the attack that took place at around 8:30 p.m.

Witnesses said that police had cordoned off the area as victims were taken to a hospital in Fallujah, 20 kilometers west of the city.

They said the village of Al-Zaidan was a former al-Qaida stronghold.

Awakening groups began in the western province of Anbar when Sunni tribal leaders turned on their former al-Qaida allies in 2006.

Since then hundreds of such groups have sprung up across Iraq, supported and paid for by the U.S. military.

Al-Qaida has frequently warned that members of Awakening groups will be specially targeted because of their cooperation with the US military in fighting the jihadists.

In other violence in Iraq on Sunday, three bomb attacks and a shootout claimed the lives of nine people and wounded more than two dozen, security officials said.

The bloodletting comes about a week before the start of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, when violence tends to spike in Iraq.

Four Iraqi soldiers were killed and eight others were wounded when a roadside bomb blasted their patrol in the town of Bala Druz, near the restive city of Baquba which has long struggled against al-Qaida.

In Baquba itself, two policemen were killed and six others including a woman were wounded in a shootout when insurgents fired at a police patrol, a defense ministry official said.

Earlier this month Iraqi forces backed by U.S. troops launched a massive assault against insurgents and jihadists in Diyala, the province surrounding Baquba and one of Iraq’s most dangerous areas where al-Qaida fighters regularly launch attacks.

Up to three people were killed and eight wounded, including five policemen, when a bomb targeting a patrol exploded on a through-road leading to Iraq’s interior ministry in Baghdad, security officials said.

As police ran to the scene to help, a second bomb went off, wounding another five officers, they said.

Wire reports

Latest 15 of 50 Total Comments Show All

theneworder666 at 06:51 PM JST - 25th August

I agree with AllAmericanHero; Course it takes longer in Afghanistan and Iraq, they have neighbors hostile to the US, and flooding them with weapons and nut jobs.

Even so, they are being routed. Suicide bombings will end soon, mark my word.
Taka313 at 06:52 PM JST - 25th August

Madverts, Happy to give you the chuckle.

Taka
AllAmericanHero at 06:54 PM JST - 25th August

Madverts; great liberal propaganda. I just hope you seriously dont believe all this nonsense you post, otherwise it would be very scary.The enemy is on the run, with less places to hide. total　victory and safety for Iraqis is close.
undecidedbout08 at 07:02 PM JST - 25th August

Madverts - there must be some mistake. Your site lists a* maximum* of 94 000 killed these five years in the Sunni - Shia war. That is way, way less than the figguh (figure) given by that shrieking twink from the Lancet [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwLp5P_i53c] whose 600 000 dead by Nov of 04 you usually cite.
Madverts at 07:08 PM JST - 25th August

Nah, uhm, heh, undecider - iraqbodycount themselves say countless cadavers slip through their net.

Suffice to say that your bodycount**isù in the hundreds of thousands.....

.....and counting.
Madverts at 07:09 PM JST - 25th August

"killed these five years in the Sunni - Shia war"

And please don't forget that's a war you supported starting.
Sarge at 08:19 PM JST - 25th August

"Things are not looking bright ( in Iraq )"

Things are looking a lot brighter now than they were when good ol' Saddam was running the country into the ground from his many luxurious palaces - and his train! Don't forget the luxury train that ran from Baghdad to Basra that he rode like once!
SezWho2 at 10:29 PM JST - 25th August

StealthBomber,

Before we liberate Iran and Syria, I hope we liberate the White House.
Sarge at 10:47 PM JST - 25th August

"I hope we liberate the White House"

We did that in 2001. Tee hee!
Madverts at 11:20 PM JST - 25th August

Nah, that's when it was seized.
Madverts at 12:32 AM JST - 26th August

sarge,

The latest;

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/08/25/iraq.teen.ap/index.html

"Iraqi police publicly questioned a teenage girl after she was allegedly caught wearing an explosives belt, parading her in front of reporters and pressing her to confess she was planning a suicide bombing."

And so it continues.

What were you sayng about Saddam running the place into the ground earlier on?
Sarge at 07:33 AM JST - 26th August

Madverts - "Iraqi police publicly questioned a teenage girl after she was allegedly caught wearing an explosives belt, parading her in front of reporters and pressing her to confess she was planning a suicide bombing"

Madverts, nice catch on the beleaguered Iraqi police. Any criticism of the wackos who planned and carried out this suicide attack?

"What were you saying about Saddam running the place into the ground earlier on?"

Oh, you still don't believe that? Oh, well, all I can tell you is, look it up!
BoldWarVeteren at 07:58 AM JST - 26th August

Sarge, great post, telling the liberals the truth is a concise manner.

The people who want to destroy our great job, by killing innocents indiscriminantly will lose, sooner rather than later. Total peace is almost within reach in Iraq.
SezWho2 at 09:28 AM JST - 26th August

Sarge,

About the White House liberation, I'm sure McCain will be the first to call that into question by telling you that Gore won more popular votes than "the people's choice for president".

But the real issue is whither after Iraq. I have no doubt that there are many who think that an attack on Iran and Syria would be a good idea. But these countries are no more in need of liberation than is Rhode Island.
Madverts at 04:09 PM JST - 26th August

sarge,

The insurgents are simply changing tactics due to the surge. Sure it's good the Iraqi police caught this one, but the numbers of female suicide bombers is up, up by a huge amount from last year, with females who have lost a son or a brother to the rampant violence created by the invasion easy to coerce into doing this kind of mission.

If Saddam an the place into the ground, the invasion has only further created misery.