Double Suicide Bomb Targets Wedding Party
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Two suicide bombers attacked a wedding convoy as it passed through a busy market area in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 35 people and wounding at least 65, police said.
As police and rescue crews rushed to the site after the first explosion in the town of Balad Ruz, the second bomb was detonated, police said. They said one of the attackers was a woman.
The double bombing was the latest in a series of high-profile attacks in Diyala, a largely Sunni area. The attackers appear to be targeting members of the Awakening movement, mainly Sunnis who have joined with American forces to fight the Sunni insurgent group Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Women are involved in an increasing number of the attacks. On Tuesday, a female suicide bomber struck in the village of Mukhisa, killing one person and wounding five, all members of the Awakening movement. On April 21, a female bomber blew herself up in the home of a group of Sunni Awakening members, killing three people.
Four days earlier, a suicide attacker wearing an explosives vest killed 55 people at a funeral for Awakening members in a Diyala village.
Among those wounded yesterday in Balad Ruz were the bride and bridegroom, the Associated Press reported, citing a provincial official.
In central Baghdad yesterday, a car bomb targeting an American military convoy killed an American soldier, the military said. Three suspects were detained and tested positive for explosive compounds, it said.
In the Baghdad district of Sadr City, Iraqi security forces backed by American troops, armor, and air power continued to battle fighters tied to the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Police said two Mahdi Army hideouts were raided, leading to clashes in which seven militiamen were killed and 16 wounded. A bombing in the area killed an Iraqi patrolman, police said.
[Iraqi envoys stepped up pressure on Iran during a mission yesterday that seeks to bolster claims that Tehran is arming and training Shiite militias in Iraq and bring the suspected aid to a halt, the Associated Press reported yesterday.]
