NAJAF, Dec 19: Suicide car bombers struck Iraq's two main holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala on Sunday, killing at least 62 people and wounding nearly 130, six weeks before a historic election.
Both bombs, which went off about two hours apart, exploded near crowded bus stations in a seemingly coordinated attempt to cause as much bloodshed as possible. Earlier in Baghdad, gunmen killed three electoral commission employees after hauling them from a car on a busy street.
The bomb blasts were not far from important shrines - Hazrat Ali (RA) mosque in Najaf and Imam Hussein (RA) mosque in Kerbala. In Najaf, the suicide bomber detonated his vehicle about 300 yards from the shrine of Hazrat Ali (RA), near crowds of people queuing for buses and taxis and not far from busy offices.
Medical officials said there were at least 48 dead and 90 wounded in the blast, which left stunned crowds waiting in freezing temperatures for ambulances. A thick column of smoke rose from the blast site as a rare drizzling rain fell. Police imposed a curfew in Najaf's old city.
In Kerbala, where a suicide bomber stuck about two hours earlier, the main hospital said 14 people were killed and 39 wounded. A hospital official said all appeared to be civilians with many women and children among them.
A cameraman for Reuters who filmed the aftermath of the attack said the ground around the bus station was littered with dead and wounded. Flames licked at the burnt-out vehicles nearly an hour afterwards. The explosion created a deep crater and blew out windows and shop fronts, showering the area with broken glass.
POLL OFFICIALS KILLED: In Baghdad, gunmen dragged three junior electoral commission employees from a car and shot them dead in broad daylight, although it was not clear if they were targeted because they worked for the commission, a commission spokesman said.
Witnesses said armed men had opened fire on the vehicle first. Two other commission employees escaped. Separately, four Kurds were killed by gunmen in Hawija, south-west of the ethnically tense city of Kirkuk.
US and Iraqi officials have warned that attacks will increase in the run up to the election. Electoral commission officials say 14 of Iraq's 18 governorates are safe enough to hold free and fair polls, but violence in the remaining areas -mostly populated by Sunni Arabs - has led Sunni organizations to call for a delay.
Militants have kidnapped and are threatening to kill 10 Iraqis employed by a US security company unless the firm pulls out of Iraq, a caller from the militants told Reuters. Arab satellite channels broadcast a tape showing the hostages. It was not clear when the men were kidnapped. No deadline appears to have been set. -Reuters
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