Iraq, Worst Bombing Since 2003

Baghdad - A suicide bomber killed at least 135 people on Saturday, Feb 3, 2007, in the deadliest single bombing in Iraq since the 2003 war, driving a truck laden with one ton of explosives into a market in a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad. Police said 305 people were wounded. The casualties swamped the capital's hospitals. There were chaotic scenes at Ibn al- Nafis hospital in central Baghdad, where hallways overflowed with wounded on trolleys.

"It was a terrible scene. Many shops and houses were destroyed," said one resident, Jassem, 42, who rushed from his home to help pull people from the rubble after hearing the explosion that rocked central Baghdad. "I was in my shop and there was a great explosion and the roof fell in on me. I woke up here in hospital," said one man at the hospital with blood streaming down his face. Emergency workers dragged bodies from the debris and piled them on pickup trucks, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.

The incident comes as the "new strategy" of the Bush administration is about to begin, with a "surge" of over 20,000 more American troops being sent to Iraq to help the government stabilize Baghdad.

The formal test was set for a period of 5 hours beginning at 19:00 local time (16:00-21:00 UTC), which probably includes some time, perhaps as much as one hour, before the bombing. The result is Chisquare = 18223.021 on 18000 df for p = 0.120 and Z = 1.174.

Iraq, Worst
Bombing Since 2003


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