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Day of death in Baghdad
17/09/2004 21:12 - (SA)
Baghdad - A suicide car bomber slammed into a line of police cars sealing off a Baghdad neighbourhood as American troops rounded up dozens of suspected militants.
They included many foreign fighters, capping a day of violence across Iraq that left at least 52 dead, officials said.
The attack came hours after United States jets pounded suspected hideouts of an al-Qaeda-linked group in and around the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, leaving at least 44 dead.
"I was thrown outside my car," said a policeman, Ali Jabar, who was being treated for wounds to his face and hand at the city's main Medical City hospital.
He blamed insurgents waging a 17-month campaign to oust US-led coalition forces.
Human flesh and blood
The attack came on a busy market day. Police fired shots to disperse the crowds as thousands of shoppers streamed from the area.
"I saw human flesh and blood in the street, then I fled," said Mouayad Shehab.
The site of the blast is in the heart of one of Baghdad's busiest commercial areas, a short distance away from the storied al-Moutanabi Street, whose outdoor book market attracts thousands on Fridays.
Security forces arrested 63 suspects, including Syrians, Sudanese and Egyptians, said interior ministry spokesperson Sabah Kadhim.
At least 10 people were wounded in the raids, according to the health ministry.
Dug mass graves
Caches of weapons, including rockets, grenades and machine guns were also seized in the sweeps, Kadhim said.
West of Baghdad, hundreds of men dug mass graves to bury the dead from a wave of American airstrikes that started late on Thursday and stretched into Friday in and around the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
Health ministry official Saad al-Amili said at least 44 people were killed and 27 injured in the Fallujah strikes.
Blood covered the floors of Fallujah General Hospital as doctors struggled to cope with a flood of casualties, many brought to the hospital in private cars as the ambulances were overwhelmed.
Relatives pounded their chests in grief and denounced the United States.
Religious leaders switched on loudspeakers at the Fallujah mosque to call on residents to donate blood while chanting: "God is great."
As night fell, a US jet was again in action above the city, striking a house in the central Dhubat neighbourhood, police said. At least three bodies could be seen at the scene.
Also on Friday, British troops clashed with fighters loyal to rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the southern city of Basra, witnesses said. A British military spokesperson said one of their soldiers had been wounded.
Further details were not immediately available.
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