Security crackdown in holy city

2008-08-15 14:09

Iskandariyah - Iraqi officials threw a massive security cordon around the holy city of Karbala on Friday after a wave of bombings in 24 hours killed at least 25 Shi'ite worshippers and wounded dozens.

The attacks came ahead of a festival on Sunday to venerate an eighth century imam.

More than 40 000 soldiers and police have been mobilised, including 2 000 female security workers, an AFP reporter witnessed, to boost security in response to twin suicide bombings that killed 22 people on Thursday.

Two women detonated their explosives-packed vests 50m apart and at a five-minute interval in Iskandariyah 50km south of Baghdad, according to police Lieutenant Kazem al-Khafaji in Babil province.

The blasts also wounded at least 73, most of them young men but also women and children, in the deadliest attack to hit the war-torn nation since last Friday when 21 people were killed by a car bomb in Tal Afar.

General Fade Reza, police chief in Babil (Babylon) province, said on Friday he was unsure how many bombers had been involved, but that there had definitely been two bombs.

Eyewitness reports also spoke of two explosions, contrasting with the US military account that said it believed only one woman was behind the attacks.

"The first explosion happened around 19:00 and as the people fled the scene, about five minutes later I heard another bomb," one resident who had tried to help the wounded told AFP.

Soldiers from the 8th Iraqi army division had secured the bombing site and helped to evacuate casualties, a US military statement said.

Iraqi aircraft could be seen overhead and US helicopters monitored the area around the holy city, including the desert west of Karbala from which Sunni insurgents tend to launch mortar and rockets attacks.

Iskandariyah was part of the infamous "triangle of death", and its minority Shi'ite population has long suffered attacks including suicide bombings launched by al-Qaeda.

Iraqi security forces face a daunting task as tens of thousands of Shi'ites head on foot to Karbala to venerate Imam Mahdi, an eighth century imam who vanished as a boy and whom Shi'ites believe will return to bring justice to the world.

"We do not have enough women police to search the pilgrims," said Reza, adding that they were also short of funds to hire more people, especially women.

"During the day it is possible to identify them but at night it is more difficult. Because of the burqa, sometimes you cannot even tell if they are men or women."

Early on Friday, at least one Shi'ite pilgrim was killed in Baghdad and 10 more were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded as their bus was leaving for Sunday's festival, police said.

- AFP