Unprecedented violence rocks Iraq
Unprecedented violence since the end of hostilities in May rocked Iraq yesterday after a series of suicide bombings killed at least 34 people and injured more than 200.
The attacks followed a missile strike on Sunday, hitting the hotel where Paul Wolfowitz, US Deputy Defence Secretary, was staying.
The headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross was hit early morning local time (06:00GMT).
An ambulance packed with explosives approached the ICRC in east Baghdad before a suicide bomber detonated his deadly load. Twelve people were killed, according to the US military.
Four police stations were also attacked. Twenty-seven people were killed, most of them Iraqis.
Iraq’s interim deputy interior minister said 34 people were confirmed dead.
Elsewhere a mortar attack on US troops in west Baghdad killed two soldiers and injured two more.
The attacks came on the first day of the Muslim holy festival of Ramadan.
US President George W Bush said the wave of attacks signified that suicide bombers were becoming ” desperate.”
“The more progress we make on the ground, the more free the Iraqis become, the more electricity that’s available, the more jobs are available, the more kids that are going to school, the more desperate these killers become,” Mr Bush said.
The Red Cross confirmed it would pull 35 foreign staff out of the capital.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw expressed his “shock and outrage” at the atrocities.
“The fact that terrorists have yet again targeted not US or UK troops but an international organisation shows the depth of depravity to which they stoop.
“I will just make this clear: We will not be deterred by this kind of outrage,” he added.
Ahmed Ibrahim, Iraq’s interim Deputy Interior Minister and Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zubari said foreign fighters and local people may have carried out the attacks.
Mr Zubari said: “I think it is a mixture of foreign fighters and local people. We have Saddam’s remnants operating, but this kind of suicidal attack bears all the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda type operation.
“We do need the coalition to stay, and I think they have done a wonderful job, and the Iraqi people are grateful for what they have done, but at the same time we think that the engagement of the Iraqis in improving security is essential,” he added.
The United Nation’s humanitarian co-ordinator in Iraq, Larry Hollingworth, said was unsure what the future held for humanitarian efforts in Baghdad.
“In the space of two months, the largest of the humanitarian aid agencies, the UN, was attacked, and now the most prestigious and oldest of the aid agencies has been hit. We are all re-evaluating just what can we do.”
Reflecting sombrely on the thorny predicaments facing the Red Cross, he said: “Can we stay? Should we go? If we go do the terrorists win? If they win, what happen to the people of Iraq? What is the message we will give? If we stay, how can we possibly stay if we are going to be targeted? Is this the way ahead?”
“I actually think we have come to a great crossroads in humanitarianism. We have come to the situation now where maybe the only way ahead is that we have protection.”
