Explosions in Iraq holy city of Karbala kill 15

By Aziz Alwan and Dan Zak, Sunday, September 25, 5:28 PM

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BAGHDAD, Iraq — Four coordinated explosions killed 15 and injured at least 113 Sunday morning in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 55 miles southwest of the Iraqi capital.

The first charge detonated at 9:30 a.m. in front of a government building that issues IDs and badges, according to a Karbala police spokesman. Three more followed as police and emergency workers gathered. The explosions sheared off the facades of several buildings. The dead include five Iraqi policemen. Four children and many Iraqi security officers were wounded.

Karbala — home to one of Shiite Islam’s most significant shrines and the tomb of one of the prophet Muhammad’s grandsons — has been a consistent target for radical Sunni insurgents looking to make headlines, incite sectarian violence and kill religious pilgrims from outside the province.

On Thursday a suicide bomber killed four pilgrims and wounded 17 as they made their way into Karbala, Reuters reported. On August 15, a booby-trapped car exploded near the police headquarters of Hindiya district, 15 miles east of the city of Karbala, killing three and injuring 42. On July 15, as thousands of visitors descended on Karbala to mark the birthday of a prominent Shiite imam, over 100 people were killed or injured by three bombs positioned in different areas of the city.

Sunday’s attacks were executed by al-Qaeda, which seeks to prove that Iraqi security forces cannot maintain order in advance of the Dec. 31 deadline for U.S. troop withdrawal, said Karbala provincial council spokesman Ghanim al-Karbalie.

While overall violence has decreased and no U.S. service member has been killed in hostile action in Iraq since July, small-scale insurgent attacks occur almost daily in the form of sticky bombs and assassinations. The casualties are usually Iraqi civilians, security forces and government officials.

Within the past week, an official with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was shot and killed in western Baghdad by gunmen wielding pistols with silencers, Iraqi police partly foiled an insurgent assault on a provincial compound in Ramadi, and a booby-trapped car exploded near a Shiite mosque in Babil province, killing five and injuring 19 policemen and civilians

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