Al Qaeda use two 'Down's syndrome' women to
blow up 73 people in Baghdad markets Two women who reportedly had Down’s syndrome may have been unwilling suicide bombers in twin blasts that killed up to 73 people at pet markets in Baghdad today. A female bomber killed 45 people at a packed pet market in Baghdad this, police said, in the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital in six months.
A separate bombing shortly after killed 20 people and wounded scores at a bird market in southern Baghdad, police said. The death toll from the two bombings increased throughout the day to at least 73.
The chief Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad, Brigadier General Qassim al-Moussawi, claimed the female bombers apparently had Down’s syndrome and the explosives were detonated by remote control, indicating the women may not have been willing attackers, according to his office.
Police initially said the bomb at al-Ghazil market was hidden in a box of birds but determined it was a suicide attack after finding the woman's head, an officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to release the information.
The attacks are sure to dent growing confidence among ordinary Iraqis that the streets of Baghdad are becoming safer following a steep reduction in violence.
At the Ghazil market, one of Baghdad's most popular gathering places which has been bombed at least three times in the past year, people stared at the destruction as workers swept up body parts and blood-stained boxes.
"I came here to enjoy myself. I don't know how I survived," said witness Abu Haider, who was covered in blood as he stood among ruined stalls and carcasses of birds and other animals.
"I was right there at the scene when the blast happened. It knocked me over. When I managed to get up, I saw dozens had been killed and wounded," he said.
While attacks continue to fall across Iraq, the latest blasts underscore U.S. military warnings that a return to the violence that took Iraq to the brink of sectarian civil war is still possible.
Police said a female bomber had detonated a vest packed with explosives next to a bird stall at the Ghazil market, while they blamed the other attack on a roadside bomb.
But Major-General Qassim Moussawi, spokesman for the Iraqi military in Baghdad, said in both attacks women had been loaded with explosives which were then detonated remotely.
"We found the mobiles used to detonate the women," he said.
Witnesses said ambulances were trying to push through packed streets to get to the scene in Ghazil after the blast, which occurred in almost exactly the same spot as a bombing which killed 13 people on November 23.
Police and civil defence officials piled the wounded into wheelbarrows, cars and the back of pick-up trucks while U.S. soldiers helped secure the area, witnesses said.
The market only opens on Fridays and is a popular spectacle visited by hundreds of Baghdadis. It sells a colourful range of creatures from guard dogs and monkeys to parrots, pigeons and tropical fish.
The November blast, caused by a bomb hidden inside a box of birds, was a big psychological blow for residents who had just begun returning to the streets after security crackdowns last year helped arrest a slide towards all-out sectarian civil war.
The market has been bombed a number of times, with about 10 people killed in two separate blasts there in January and February last year.
The latest blast was the worst in Baghdad for six months. Fifty people were killed when a fuel truck exploded in the capital on Aug. 1 last year.
Violence has fallen sharply across Iraq, with the number of attacks down 60 percent since last June, allowing Iraqis to venture out to markets and restaurants as they attempt to return to a semblance of normal life.
The declining violence has been attributed to 30,000 extra U.S. troops, which became fully deployed last June, and the growth of primarily Sunni Arab local police units.
The units sprang up in the western province of Anbar in late 2006 and helped drive al Qaeda out of their former stronghold.
Despite the improved security, U.S. commanders warn that Sunni Islamist al Qaeda, blamed for most large-scale attacks in Iraq, remains a dangerous enemy. Al Qaeda has regrouped in the north after being driven out of Anbar and from around Baghdad.
Yesterday, Iraqi government figures showed that 466 Iraqi civilians had died violently in January, more than 76 percent lower than the 1,971 killed in January 2007.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=511678&in_page_id=1811
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