Death toll in Sadr City bombings rises to 200

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Source: CCTV.com | 11-24-2006 08:23

BAGHDAD, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The death toll rose to 200 in a series of coordinated bombings in a Shiite militia stronghold in eastern Baghdad on Thursday, an well-informed Interior Ministry official told Xinhua on Friday.

A further 250 people were wounded, the official added.

Late Thursday, the official said 153 people were killed and 201 others injured in the most devastating bombings since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.

Sadr City in eastern Baghdad is a stronghold for thousands of followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Iraqi authorities have taken severe security measures in Baghdad to avoid more violence, including imposing an indefinite curfew, closing Baghdad International Airport until further notice.

Video : 153 killed and up to 200 wounded in Baghdad bombings

Iraq's Prime Minister has called for calm, following at least four car bombings and two mortar attacks that killed 153 people in Baghdad. More than two hundred people were also wounded during the attacks on Thursday. The Iraqi government has imposed an indefinite curfew in Baghdad. It's urging people and vehicles to stay indoors until further notice.

Thursday saw the bloodiest attacks in Iraq since the US invasion three years ago.

Parked vehicles, each packed with as much as half a ton of explosives devastated streets and a crowded market in the sprawling Sadr City slum in east Baghdad.

The bombs exploded at 15-minute intervals beginning on Thursday afternoon with the first killing about 10 people in Jamila market.

The following attacks hit al-Hay market and al-Shahidein Square. Mortar rounds fired at about the same time, struck al-Shahidein and Mudhaffar Squares.

Meanwhile, an attack led by Sunni militants on the Shiite-led Health Ministry just five kilometers from Sadr City, left five people wounded. Guerrillas used machine guns and fired mortars and rocket-propelled grenades into the ministry's compound.

Angry residents and armed Shi'ite members responded in fury flooding the streets and hurling curses at Sunni Muslims while firing weapons into the air.

And in retaliation, they fired a dozen mortar rounds at Adhamiya, the holiest Sunni shrine in Baghdad killing one person and wounding seven others.

Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has already made an appeal on national television, calling for calm and self-restraint. He's also urging politicians to continue working hard to defuse sectarian tensions.

Iraqi PM Nouri Al-Maliki said, "I hope all political and popular forces will integrate to protect the people from this criminal violence. I also ask the security forces to protect the people and put an end to this sectarian unrest."

Thursday's string of attacks is the worst instance of sectarian bloodshed, since February's bombing of the Shi'ite Shrine in Samarra plunged Iraq into a vicious cycle of sectarian violence.

Editor:Sun Luying