IRAQ: Iraqi leaders plead for calm after clashes in central Baghdad and car bombs kill 160 and wound 257 people in Sadr City

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made televised pleas for calm and restraint after clashes in central Baghdad and a series of explosions in Sadr city killed 160 people and left 257 wounded on Thursday (November 23). "What happened today puts us all under a shared responsibility. Everyone must immediately take action to swiftly put an end to the suffering of Iraq and work seriously towards the building of viable state institutions and a rule of law and order. We share with people their sorrows and pray for mercy for the martyrs and swift recovery for the wounded. I call on everyone to exercise restraint, rationality and calm to rob the enemies of Iraq of this opportunity," said Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. "In light of this hideous catastrophe, I call upon you all to exercise restraint and maintain calm. Thereby overcoming the perpetrators of this horrible crime against the innocent residents of Sadr City. Those (criminals) that have also perpetrated such crimes in other Iraqi cities. I hope that all of the political and popular groups will unite in order to protect all citizens from these criminals. And I call upon the security apparatuses to protect the citizens, prevent escalation, and limit internal strife," said Nouri Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq. A series of car bombs killed at least 160 people and wounded 257 in a Shi'ite militia stronghold in Baghdad as gunmen mounted an audacious daylight raid on a Shi'ite-run government ministry at the same time. Three apparently coordinated car bombs and a blast from a mortar in different parts of the Sadr City neighbourhood of mainly Shi'ite east Baghdad devastated whole streets, leaving bloodied remains strewn amid the mangled wrecks of vehicles in one the worst bomb attacks in the capital this month. In the aftermath of the bombings, people took to the streets, yelling "We do not want al-Maliki government," and "They are the Wahhabis, they are dogs." Five people were wounded at the Health Ministry, about 5 km (3 miles) from Sadr City, an Interior Ministry source said, when about 30 guerrillas fired mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns into the compound in one of the biggest public shows of force by militants in the city since the U.S. invasion. Clashes also erupted in central Baghdad when police officers came under fire in Aadamiya, witnesses said. Officers said they returned fire after being attacked by militiamen and called reinforcements to the scene. Its not clear if there were any casualties. A Reuters cameraman at the scene filmed cars and buildings on fire. The violence follows a week of mounting sectarian tensions in the upper reaches of the national unity government as the civilian death toll was estimated by the United Nations to have hit a high in October of 120 a day. Apart from victims of bombings, many are tortured and their bodies dumped in Baghdad.

ITN Source | November 24, 2006

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