'Child used as suicide bomber'

2005-01-31 13:54

Baghdad - Iraq's interior minister said on Monday that insurgents used a "handicapped child" as one of the suicide bombers who launched attacks on election day.

Falah al-Naqib told reporters in Baghdad that 38 attacks were carried out on polling stations in Iraq on Sunday and that one of the suicide bombings was carried out by a disabled child.

"A handicapped child was used to carry out a suicide attack on a polling site," al-Naqib said. "This is an indication of what horrific actions they are carrying out."

He gave no other details about the attack, but police at the scene of one the Baghdad blasts said the bomber appeared to have Down's Syndrome.

Eight suicide bombers blew up near polling stations in Baghdad on Sunday, killing themselves and 19 other people.

Al-Naqib praised an Iraqi citizen who was killed while blocking one suicide bomber from reaching a crowd of people outside at polling station.

- AP