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Car bomb kills 33 in Iraq
10/02/2008 21:02 - (SA)
Baghdad - A suicide car bomb killed 33
people in Iraq on Sunday, a security official said, hours before
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Baghdad to assess
recent security gains and discuss troop levels.
The bomber struck a checkpoint outside a crowded market near
the town of Balad in the country's north, said Colonel Hamadi
Atshan, a spokesperson for Iraqi security forces in the area.
The checkpoint was run by Sunni Arab volunteers who had
joined US forces to fight al-Qaeda, Atshan said, adding women
and children were among those killed in one of the worst attacks
in Iraq this year. The US military put the death toll at 23.
"There was a big explosion near the checkpoint. I saw blood,
clothes, children's shoes and other personal things strewn on
the ground," said Mustafa Kamal, a member of the volunteer
security force and who was wounded in the attack. Troop levels
Gates told reporters he would discuss troop levels with the
US military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus.
Petraeus is expected to testify to the US Congress in
April about possible further cuts in American forces in Iraq
should recent drops in violence be sustained.
"I will obviously be interested in hearing from General
Petraeus about his evaluation - where he stands and what more
work he feels he needs to do before he's ready to come back with
his recommendations," Gates said.
Gates is visiting Baghdad a year after a US-Iraqi security
offensive was launched with the aid of an extra 30 000 US
troops to halt the country's slide into all-out sectarian war.
Security has improved since the additional forces were fully
deployed in June, allowing the US military to start
withdrawing some troops.
By July, US force levels will have dropped by five
brigades, bringing numbers to roughly 130 000, or the same as
before the additional deployments began in early 2007.
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