| stevo |
03-01-2005 11:58 AM |
Iraqis demonstrate against terrorism
Quote:
BAGHDAD, Iraq Mar 1, 2005 — More than 2,000 people demonstrated Tuesday at the site of a car bombing south of Baghdad that killed 125 people, chanting "No to terrorism!"
An Internet statement purportedly by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq group claimed responsibility the bombing.
Iraqis demonstrate in condemnation of Monday's suicide bombing, in Hillah in Iraq on Tuesday, March 1, 2005. Hundreds of people visited the wounded and inspected corpses at the hospital in Hillah on Tuesday, trying to identify friends and family who died in a suicide bombing that killed at least 120 people, the single deadliest attack of its kind since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
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http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=541819
I would just like to point out that Iraqis are demonstrating against the terrorists in Iraq, since some people seem to believe that most of the Iraqis are with the terrorists (either silently, or overtly).
It also makes me feel good when Iraqis chant "No to terrorism!" instead of "Death to America!"
edit: I just found the rest of the article, forgive me, but the AP has this story intertwined with that of the missing french journalist for some reason
Quote:
Ten more people died from injuries in Monday's car bombing in Hillah, south of Baghdad, raising the death toll to 125. The attacker detonated the bomb as a group of police and national guard recruits were lining up to take physicals at a medical clinic.
At least 141 others were injured in the blast the boldest challenge yet to Iraq's efforts to build a security force that can take over from the Americans.
The Internet statement by al-Qaida in Iraq said that the attack targeted a registration center for Iraqi police and National Guardsmen. It made no mention of the medical clinic or a nearby market where a number of people were also killed.
It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the statement, which was posted on the Web site that has previously carried al-Qaida material. The statement was also posted under the name of Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, the designated media coordinator of al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaida in Iraq.
More than 2,000 people held the impromptu demonstration on front of the clinic, chanting "No to terrorism!" and "No to Baathism and Wahhabism!"
Wahhabism is a reference to adherents of the strict form of Sunni Islam preached by Osama bin Laden, while the Baath party was the political organization that ran Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
The demonstrators also demanded that interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi step down.
Police prevented people from parking cars in front of the clinic or the hospital, where authorities blocked hospital gates with barbed wire to stave off hundreds of victims' relatives desperate for information on loved ones.
Provincial Gov. Walid al-Janabi said no funeral procession would be held in Hillah due to "security reasons." He did not elaborate, but police said they feared new attacks.
Authorities blocked hospital gates with barbed wire to stave off hundreds of victims' relatives desperate for information on loved ones.
Anxious for news of loved ones, they gathered around lists carrying the names of the dead and injured that were posted on hospital walls, screaming and wailing. They also went through victims' belongings, including identification cards, left in boxes nearby.
Distraught relatives at the hospital morgue placed the dead into coffins and loaded them onto pickup trucks, taking them to city mosques and homes where the bodies will be washed before burial, a Muslim tradition in Iraq.
Many of the corpses, charred or dismembered, were unrecognizable, stuffed into white plastic bags. Other bodies lay on the ground in the open because the overwhelmed morgue had no place to store them.
"We blame Hillah police for this tragedy because they didn't take the necessary measures to protect innocent people," said Hussein Hassoun, who lost two nephews who were standing in line for medical checkups, trying to join the local police force.
Many of the dead will be taken to the holy Shiite city of Najaf for burial later Tuesday.
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Wow, they even chanted "No to Wahhabism." |
