Baghdad double bombing death toll reaches 21

Baghdad double bombing death toll reaches 21

PanARMENIAN.Net - A double bombing has struck at an upscale neighbourhood Iraq's capital, killing at least 21 people, Belfast Telegraph said.

The deaths came despite the fact Baghdad police stopped three attackers storming a counter-terror unit, as the government strained to control al Qaida-based chaos gripping the country.

The bloody explosions came on the same day that Iraq's government discussed security issues with Iran, a measure of Tehran's growing influence.

Two cars parked in the mostly-Shiite shopping district of Karradah exploded during the afternoon rush hour. Most of the dead were store owners and passers-by, although the blasts hit near two police headquarters and a security checkpoint, killing six policemen.

The bombs sent plumes of black smoke over the neighbourhood, located across the Tigris River from the Green Zone, and the sounds of gunshots could be heard from blocks away.

The violence brought the July death toll to 245 people killed in shootings and bombings, approaching the carnage in January, when 255 people were killed following the US pull-out.

Al Qaida has claimed responsibility for nearly all the attacks as it seeks to take advantage of political instability in Iraq and move back into areas it was forced to abandon before the US military left the country last December.

Security forces and government offices are top targets for insurgents seeking to prove how unsafe Iraq remains.

The second bomb exploded outside an Iraqi passport office, a few blocks away from the interior ministry's major crimes unit headquarters. Fifteen people were killed and 35 wounded, officials said.

Police said two suicide bombers and a gunman broke into the crimes unit, which also handles counter-terror cases, but they were killed before they could unleash widespread damage.

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