Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Mercury News: Baghdad University Bombing 1.17..07

from warandpiece.com

Laura Rozen (not Ronald Bleier) wrote:

January 17, 2007


McClatchy reports on the horrific Baghdad university bombings that killed 70 people yesterday:

The worst bloodshed came at Mustansiriyah University in a Mahdi Army-controlled area near Sadr City. A car bomb drove up to the main gate as students gathered to board minivans home following afternoon classes.

The blast ripped through the crowd, triggering a raging fireball and black clouds of smoke. As wounded and frightened students fled, a suicide bomber walked into the terrified crowd and detonated himself.

Body parts littered the streets, and minibuses filled with students who'd been on their way home were charred beyond salvage. Young men picked up bodies as women wept. "Save me," bleeding victims in the streets begged passersby.

"I saw that innocent blood on the ground and I thought `This is judgment day,'" said Israa Hussein, 27, who'd been buying toys from a street vendor when the first bomb detonated. "I turned to see what happened and all I saw was fire and black smoke."

One man searched for his son and finally found his head and torso but no legs.

"Where is his other half?" he asked and then shook with violent sobs.

The bombing killed 70 people and injured 169, according to the Ministry of Interior, which issued an urgent plea for blood on state television.

More than 100 people were killed around Baghdad yesterday, the highest carnage in the past month.

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