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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Do you have a news tip? newstips@heraldnet.com | 425.339.3400   Published: Sunday, September 7, 2008 Suicide car bomb kills six, wounds 54 in northern Iraq Associated Press BAGHDAD -- A suicide car bomber blasted an outdoor market Saturday in a northern Iraqi city, killing six people and wounding 54, police and hospital authorities said. The attack in the mainly Turkomen city of Tal Afar took place one day after a suicide car bomber struck a convoy carrying ex-Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi in Baghdad. The former Pentagon favorite escaped injury but six people, including five of his bodyguards, were killed. Saturday's attack occurred in the same Tal Afar market where a suicide truck bomber killed 28 people and injured 72 last month. That raises questions about whether Iraqi police are capable of maintaining security in the strategic north -- where al-Qaida in Iraq remains active -- as the Americans hand over more responsibility for security to Iraqi soldiers and police. Police said the bomber detonated his explosive-laden car near a crowd of people gathered around a traffic accident in the market, which was crowded with shoppers buying food for the traditional evening meal that breaks the daily fast in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. "I was walking through the street toward my work when I felt what seemed like a hurricane," said Asghar Saied, 52, from his hospital bed in Dahok where he was taken with shrapnel wounds and a broken leg. "People were running in all directions," he said. "A woman was shouting about her missing child who was blown from her hand by the blast. Despite my injuries, I can't stop thinking about that woman. Is it a humanitarian or Islamic thing to do during the holy month of Ramadan?" Mohammed Ahmed, 18, said his 4-year-old brother, Muntadhar, was wounded in the blast. "He was playing. I hurried to find him after the bombing. But I couldn't find him at first because he was thrown a long way by the blast. He suffered a broken leg and his white shirt was soaked in red," Ahmed said. Elsewhere in the north, Kurdish security forces raided a house in Irbil province, killed a suspected member of an al-Qaida front group and captured a 17-year-old girl wearing an explosives vest, provincial police said. The Kurds said the 17-year-old was from a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad, 220 miles to the south. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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