BAGHDAD – Two suicide bombers wearing vests stuffed with explosives blew themselves up in separate attacks in Iraq yesterday, killing 76 people, including many Iranian pilgrims, in the bloodiest day for more than a year.
The blasts come at a time when apprehension is growing in Iraq ahead of a pull-out by US troops from city centres in June and after warnings from officials that insurgent groups may try to take advantage of that to launch attacks.
A national election due at the end of the year also threatens to stir a resurgence in violence just as the bloodshed of the past six years appeared to be receding.
Shortly after the two attacks, the authorities in Baghdad said they had arrested the purported leader of an al-Qaeda-affiliated insurgent group, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. His arrest, which has been reported before, could not be confirmed.
One of the attacks occurred near Muqdadiya, 80km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, in the volatile province of Diyala. The suicide bomber appeared to have targeted a group of Iranian pilgrims in a crowded roadside restaurant at lunchtime.
All but two of the 48 dead were Iranians visiting Shia Muslim religious sites in Iraq, police said. Sixty-seven people were wounded.
The blast in central Baghdad took place as a group of Iraqi national police were distributing relief supplies to families driven from their homes during the sectarian slaughter and insurgency unleashed by the 2003 US-led invasion.
Twenty-eight people died and 50 were wounded, police said. At least five children were among the dead, they added. – (Reuters)