IRAQ: A car bomb explodes in southern Baghdad, killing five, and a bomb destroys a truck carrying chlorine gas in Taji killing at least five

A car bomb explodes in the Doura area, south of Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 20. Another bomb destroys a truck carrying chlorine gas in Taji just north of Baghdad, killing at least five people and spewing out toxic fumes that left nearly 140 others sick. Police are still investigating if the explosion was caused by a roadside bomb or the truck itself was rigged with explosives. A car bomb explodes in the Doura area in the south of Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 20 at a vegetable market. Another bomb destroyed a truck carrying chlorine gas in Taji just north of Baghdad, killing at least five people and spewing out toxic fumes that left nearly 140 others sick, Iraqi police said. A car bomb exploded near a wholesale vegetable market on Tuesday (February 20), killing five people and wounding 20 others in the southern Doura district of Baghdad, police said. In a separate incident, a bomb destroyed a truck carrying chlorine gas north of Baghdad on Tuesday (February 20), killing at least five people and spewing out toxic fumes that left nearly 140 others sick, Iraqi police said. It was not immediately clear if the chlorine truck blast was caused by a roadside bomb that hit the truck or if the vehicle itself was rigged with explosives as a makeshift chemical gas bomb. The bomb exploded near a restaurant at a rest stop on the main highway in Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad. Twisted metal and debris littered the ground in front of a tyre repair shop after the blast, which sent out toxic fumes that caused scores of people to be taken to hospital. Police said at least five people were killed and the total number of hurt, including those sickened by the chlorine as well as those hit by the explosion was, 139. Many women and children were among them. This latest wave of violence comes as a U.S.-led offensive against both Shi'ite militias and Sunni insurgents sharply reduced the number of death squad killings in Baghdad since it formally began a week ago. Before the crackdown, police had been finding 40 to 50 bodies a day. On Sunday (February 18), they found just three bodies and in previous days around five each day, but on Monday the number rose to 20, a police source said. Most such bodies are victims of sectarian death squads and many are found tortured, bound and shot dead. The figure from the mortuary does not include victims of bomb attacks or others who are taken to hospitals and identified there. More than 110,000 Iraqi and U.S forces are taking part in Operation Imposing Law, aimed at curbing the sectarian violence that has been killing hundreds every week and dividing the city on sectarian lines, driving tens of thousands from their homes. U.S. military officials have warned that militants could strike in areas outside Baghdad while U.S. and Iraqi forces focus their efforts inside the capital.

ITN Source | February 20, 2007

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