Suicide Car Bomb Kills 30 North Of Baghdad
September 12, 2008
BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- A suicide car bomb killed 30 people and wounded 47 others outside a police station in a predominantly Shi'ite town north of Baghdad, Iraqi police said.
The attack in Dujail was one of the deadliest in Iraq in months and shows militants are still capable of carrying out large-scale bombings despite major security gains across the country.
Police said the bombing occurred just before dusk, when many people were on the streets before the breaking of the fast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
They said casualties were a mix of civilians shopping at a nearby market as well as police.
Dujail lies 50 kilometers north of Baghdad in Salahuddin Province.
The attack bore the hallmarks of Sunni Islamist Al-Qaeda.
A series of military offensives by U.S. and Iraqi forces has significantly weakened the militant group and forced its fighters into northern provinces such as Salahuddin.
Violence overall in Iraq has fallen to levels not seen since early 2004. Those security gains have allowed U.S. forces to begin withdrawing from Iraq.
Dujail was the site of an assassination attempt on former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 1982.
Saddam, toppled in the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, was hanged in December 2006 after being found guilty in the killing of scores of Shi'ite men in Dujail after the attempt on his life.