A bomb tore through a minibus during morning rush hour Monday in a mainly Shia area in Baghdad, killing at least nine people and wounding 24, Iraqi officials said. The blast was a grim reminder of the major challenge facing Iraqi forces three weeks ahead of the June 30 deadline for US troops to withdraw from urban areas.
The bomb was attached to the minibus in the southern area of Abu Dshir, a Shia enclave in the mainly Sunni neighbourhood of Dora, police said. "A ball of fire rose into the sky. We saw a minibus thrown about five meters (yards) into the air, then come down in flames," said Omar Abdul-Ghafar, a university student who was waiting with his friend for another bus.
The explosion left a crater at the entrance of the bus station where commuters were gathered to catch rides to different parts of the city. An Associated Press photographer saw the charred hulk of the minibus and three other burned-out cars. Security forces sealed off the area while ambulances rushed the wounded to the hospital.
Police and hospital officials gave the death toll and said 24 people also were wounded. An Interior Ministry official said all those killed had been passengers on the bus while the wounded were bystanders waiting nearby. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorised to release the information.
Both districts have faced brutal sectarian bloodshed in past years but have seen a sharp decline in violence following a Sunni revolt against insurgent groups such as al Qaida in Iraq and a Shia militia cease-fire. US-Iraqi forces also increased their presence and cordoned areas off with concrete walls and checkpoints in the city-wide push to quell the violence that pushed the country to the brink of civil war.
With the decline in violence, Iraqi authorities have taken down many of the concrete walls in a bid to restore a sense of normalcy in the capital. But several recent high-profile bombings have raised concerns about the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over their own security.
Abdul-Ghafar, a Sunni resident who fled the violence but returned to the area about six months ago when the situation seemed to improve, said the area was especially crowded because of students planning to take final exams. His friend was injured in the shoulder and soaked in blood. Lecture notes, cigarette packs and candy bars were scattered on the ground.
"Some children were crying and running aimlessly, looking for their parents," he said. "People were so upset with police and began shouting insults on police and government for the security violations and for removing the concrete walls and stopping the searching process." The June 30 withdrawal date was provided for in the US-Iraq security agreement that took effect this year.
President Barack Obama plans to end US combat operations by September 2010 and remove all US troops from the country by December 31, 2011. Iraq's Shia-led government insisted on a timetable for the withdrawal during last year's negotiations that produced the security agreement. The Iraqi government spokesman, meanwhile, said four Americans, not five, have been detained in an investigation into the killing last month of a US contractor in the Green Zone.