Suicide bomber attacks checkpoint in Iraq, kills 45, injures over 100 more
A suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with explosives attacked a security checkpoint in the southern Iraqi city of Hilla on Sunday, killing at least 45 people and wounding more than 100, security officials said.
photo screenshot The Guardian video coverage of Iraq bombing
The attack was at a checkpoint in Hilla, a city in southern Iraq. The drivers and passengers in line for inspection were trapped inside their vehicles, consumed by the fire after the blast.
“I was sitting inside my kiosk when suddenly a horrible blast threw me outside and hurled my groceries up in the air. I saw cars set ablaze with people burning inside,” said Abu Nawar to The Guardian. Nawar is an owner of a makeshift kiosk made of palm tree leaves near the checkpoint.
Ahmed Muhammed, a college student was quoted in the NY Times coverage saying “I was sitting in the car waiting to be searched by the police when suddenly it became dark. Then my car was going back, and my legs were no longer there.” Muhammed was admitted to a hospital in Hilla.
Bombings and other attacks killed more than 8,000 Iraqis last year, according to the United Nations, and violence has continued unabated this year, the article noted.
In an interview broadcast on Saturday, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of supporting terrorism in Iraq and Syria.
“I accuse them of inciting and encouraging the terrorist movements,” Mr. Maliki said in the interview with France 24 television. “I accuse them of supporting them politically and in the media, of supporting them with money and by buying weapons for them. I accuse them of leading an open war against the Iraqi government.”
Photo screenshot The Guardian video coverage – HERE
