The Iraq Terrorism and Bombings Thread

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The toll from a wave of attacks in Iraq mainly targeting security forces and Shiites rose on Friday to 51 killed, 26 of them police and soldiers, security officials and doctors said.

Thursday's attacks came amid a surge in violence that has killed more than 2,500 people already this year, including upwards of 250 so far this month.

Analysts point to widespread discontent among Iraq's minority Sunni community, and the Shiite authorities' failure to address their grievances, as the main factors driving the increase in violence.

In Thursday's single deadliest incident, gunmen shot dead 11 police charged with protecting the country's vital oil infrastructure and three soldiers on the road between Haditha and Baiji, northwest of the Iraqi capital.

In another attack, a car bomb ripped through a funeral tent where family members of a Shiite man were receiving condolences in Muqdadiyah, northeast of Baghdad, and a suicide bomber detonated explosives when emergency personnel arrived.

The blasts killed a total of 10 people and wounded 22.

And a car bomb near a Shiite religious hall close to Dujail, north of Baghdad, killed nine people and wounded 21 more.

Many people gather at places of worship at night during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began earlier this week.

Sunni militants including those linked to Al-Qaeda frequently target members of Iraq's Shiite majority, whom they regard as apostates.

Iraq was plagued by sectarian violence that killed tens of thousands of people in past years, and there are persistent fears that tensions will again boil over into all-out conflict.

Security forces are also frequently targeted in attacks.

Violence in Iraq has declined from its peak at the height of the sectarian conflict in 2006 and 2007, but the number of deaths in attacks have been on the rise since the beginning of 2013.


Source : Sapa-AFP /pk
Date : 12 Jul 2013 10:33
 
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Garyvdh said:
In another attack, a car bomb ripped through a funeral tent where family members of a Shiite man were receiving condolences in Muqdadiyah, northeast of Baghdad,

And a car bomb near a Shiite religious hall close to Dujail, north of Baghdad, killed nine people and wounded 21 more.
Many people gather at places of worship at night during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began earlier this week.
Click to expand...

It is this that boggles my mind - attacking when people are praying or in places of worship.
Police / military could be regarded as "legitimate" targets, but people praying ??
 
Iraq Officials: Evening Attacks on Shiites kill 24

Evening attacks against Shiites in Iraq killed at least 24 people and wounded 49, Iraqi officials said Friday, in the latest attempt by insurgents to exacerbate the country's renewed sectarian tensions.

The attacks raised the death toll from a series of attacks Thursday, which included assaults on police stations in the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah west of Baghdad, to 40.

In one of the attacks authorities described Friday, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden motorcycle into a funeral tent for a Shiite family in the town of in Muqdadiyah, about 90 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad.

That explosion killed 13 people and wounded 24, officials said.

In the northern town of Dujail, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Baghdad, a parked car bomb went off outside a Shiite mosque late on Thursday. As people gathered around the blast site, another bomb went off.

The twin bombing killed at least 11 people and wounded 25, said the town mayor, Nayif al-Khazrachi.

Two medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The killings are the latest in a wave of bloodshed that has claimed the lives of more than 2,600 people since the start of April.

The months-long eruption of violence - Iraq's worst in half a decade - is raising fears the country is again returning to the brink of a civil war pitting its Sunni and Shiite Muslim sects against one another

On Wednesday, gunmen launched an assault on an army checkpoint and special oil industry police assigned to protect a nearby pipeline in the western Iraqi desert, killing at least 14 troops there.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the latest attacks but al-Qaida's Iraq branch, which has been gaining strength in recent months, frequently targets Shiites, security forces and civil servants in an effort to undermine the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.

According to the United Nations mission to Iraq, violence in June alone claimed the lives of 761 Iraqis and wounded 1,771 others.


Source : Sapa-AP /pd
Date : 12 Jul 2013 12:02
 
It's very sad that at this time of the year that these people are unable to maintain some semblance of peace with each other - if only just for the duration of their mutually holy month.
 
Wave of Bombings Kills 38

A wave of coordinated blasts that tore through overwhelmingly Shiite cities shortly before the breaking of the Ramadan fast and other attacks killed at least 38 in Iraq on Sunday, the latest in a surge of violence that is raising fears the country is sliding back toward full-scale sectarian fighting.

Insurgents have been pounding Iraq with bombings and other attacks for months in the country's worst eruption of violence in half a decade. The pace of the killing has picked up since the Muslim holy month Ramadan began Wednesday, with daily mass-casualty attacks marring what is meant to be a month of charity and peaceful reflection.

Violence in Iraq has risen to its deadliest level since 2008, with more than 2,800 people killed since the start of April. The spike in bloodshed is growing increasingly reminiscent of the widespread sectarian killing that peaked in 2006 and 2007, when the country teetered on the brink of civil war.

Insurgents often increased attacks during Ramadan in the years following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Pious Muslims go without food, drink, smoking and sex in the daytime during the holy month, when feelings of spiritual devotion are high.

Sunday's explosions struck shortly before the evening iftar meal that ends the daylong fast during Ramadan.

In the deadliest attack, at least eight people were killed and 15 were wounded in the southern port city of Basra when a car bomb and then a follow-up blast went off near an office of a Shiite political party, according to two police officers. Basra is a major oil industry hub 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

Another car bomb exploded among shops and take-away restaurants in central Kut, 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad. The provincial deputy governor, Haidar Mohammed Jassim, said five people were killed and 35 wounded.

Police reported additional car bomb explosions that left four dead in a commercial street in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, five near an outdoor market in Nasiriyah and six near a Shiite mosque in Musayyib, and more than 60 wounded in total.

All of those attacks hit mostly Shiite communities.

Another blast, this one caused by a roadside bomb, struck late Sunday in a commercial street in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, killing four people and wounding 16 others, according to police and hospital officials.

It was the second night in a row a deadly bomb went off in the largely Sunni district.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the recent wave of attacks, but Sunni extremists, including al-Qaida's Iraq branch, are believed to be responsible for much of the killing. They frequently target Shiites, security forces and civil servants in an effort to undermine the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.

Sunni insurgents may also be responsible for the attacks in Dora, hoping that the bombings will spark a sectarian backlash. But Shiite militias remobilizing and sending fighters to confront mostly Sunni rebels in neighboring Syria also could be to blame.

Earlier in the day, police said gunmen killed two soldiers in an assault on their security checkpoint in the restive city of Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

Hours later, a roadside bomb killed a municipal council member and his son in a town near Mosul. Gunmen in another area just south of Mosul also sprayed a security checkpoint with bullets, killing two policemen.

Hospital officials confirmed those casualty tolls. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information to reporters.

Also on Sunday, a spokesman for Iraq's prime minister said that outgoing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to visit Iraq later this week. It will be the Iranian leader's second visit to neighboring Iraq while in office.

Iraq's Shiite-led government has strengthened ties with Tehran since the toppling of dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. The closeness rankles Sunnis. Many in their ranks believe Baghdad is too friendly with the Shiite powerhouse, the main regional backer of Syria's embattled President Bashar Assad.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's spokesman, Ali al-Moussawi, said Ahmadinejad plans to arrive for a visit to Iraq on Thursday. He said Ahmadinejad would meet with senior Iraqi officials and visit Shiite holy shrines in Najaf and Karbala during the two-day visit.

Ahmadinejad, who leaves office in August, visited Iraq for the first time in March 2008.


Source : Sapa-AP /mr
Date : 14 Jul 2013 23:08
 
Suicide Bomber kills 20 in Sunni Mosque

A suicide bomber killed 20 people inside a crowded Sunni mosque north of Baghdad on Friday, police said, as Iraq struggles to contain its worst violence since 2008.

The bomber detonated explosives soon after entering the Abu Bakr al-Sadiq Mosque as the imam gave the Friday sermon in the town of Al-Wajihiyah, a police colonel said.

A doctor confirmed the toll from the blast which also wounded 40 people.

"I was sitting near the main entrance of the mosque when a huge explosion happened," sending dirt and objects flying, said Sinan Ghalib, who woke up in a hospital in the nearby city of Baquba with a serious wound in his left leg.

Omar Mundhir was also wounded in the leg by the explosion.

"I was sitting near the imam and the mosque was full of dozens of people when a big explosion happened, and the place went completely dark," Mundhir said, also in hospital.

"I found myself on the ground at the hospital later, with many other wounded" who were screaming and crying, he said.

Areas near Baquba have been hit by several attacks over the past few days, including a bombing on Tuesday that targeted worshippers leaving a Sunni mosque in Muqdadiyah, northeast of the city, killing four people and wounding 15.

Militants have targeted both Sunni and Shiite mosques in recent months, raising fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict that killed tens of thousands of people in past years.

A bombing targeting a Shiite religious hall in north Baghdad earlier this month killed at least 15 people.

The latest unrest brings the number of people killed in violence this month to 457, and upwards of 2,700 since the beginning of the year.

The death toll for the first 19 days of July alone has already surpassed the total for the entire month of June.

Most senior Iraqi politicians and religious leaders have remained silent about the current wave of violence.

Iraq has faced years of attacks by militants, but analysts say widespread discontent among members of its Sunni minority, which the government has failed to address, has fuelled this year's surge in unrest.

Iraqi Sunnis accuse the Shiite-led government of marginalising and targeting their community, including making unwarranted arrests and terrorism charges.

Protests that first broke out in Sunni-majority areas at the end of 2012, are still ongoing.

On April 23, security forces moved against protesters near the town of Hawijah in the north, sparking clashes that killed 53 people and sending tensions soaring.

More than 450 people have been killed each month from April to the present.

In addition to security problems, the government in Baghdad is also failing when it comes to addressing other basic issues.

Iraqis severely lack basic services, and face power shortages and cuts and widespread corruption.

Political squabbling has also paralysed the government, which has passed almost no major legislation in years.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mm
Date : 19 Jul 2013 15:00
 
Attacks Kill 18 as Iraqis Slam Govt over Bombings

Violence in Iraq killed 18 people on Sunday, as ordinary Iraqis poured scorn on the authorities for failing to stem a weekend of unrest that cost dozens of lives.

More than 540 people have been killed so far this month and over 2,800 since January 1, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.

In the deadliest incident on Sunday, gunmen attacked a checkpoint in the Zab area of Kirkuk province in northern Iraq, killing five members of an Arab unit of the peshmerga security forces, officials said.

Members of the peshmerga, the security forces of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, are overwhelmingly ethnic Kurds.

Gunmen also killed four people -- a soldier, a five-year-old child and two others -- who were swimming in a river in the Sharqat area north of Baghdad.

It was the third attack targeting a swimming area in seven days.

In the northern city of Mosul, gunmen killed two policemen in an attack on a checkpoint, while two roadside bombs exploded near an army base in Taji, north of Baghdad, killing three people and wounding at least 10.

Another roadside bomb killed two police and wounded two more in the town of Al-Wajihiyah, also north of Baghdad, and a bomb exploded in the garden of a house in Besmayah, southeast of the capital, killing two people and wounding four, all from the same family.

The blasts came a day after Baghdad was hit by 12 car bombs, a roadside bomb and a shooting, while another bomb blew up south of the capital. A total of 67 people were killed.

Attacks elsewhere killed another three people on Saturday.

The Baghdad attacks struck as residents turned out to shop and relax in cafes after iftar, the meal that breaks the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

On Sunday, ordinary Iraqis sharply criticised the authorities for failing to prevent the bloodshed.

"This is a cartoon government and its security forces cannot protect themselves, let alone protect the people," a man said near the site of one bombing in central Baghdad.

In Tobchi, a north Baghdad area hit in the Saturday attacks, another man resorted to sarcasm.

"These car bombs come to us from Mars, because the security forces are implementing strict regulations to prevent their entry here," he said.

A third slammed the aloof attitude of the political elite, who rarely comment on the spiralling violence.

"Iraqis are being protected only by God, because the politicians only care about their positions and personal interests," he said.

In the first 12 days of Ramadan, more than 340 people have been killed in violence across Iraq.

And with 10 days still to go, July is already the second-deadliest month of 2013 with a death toll significantly higher than those of January and February combined.

"The holy month of Ramadan should be a time for spirituality and forgiveness, instead of increasing violence and division," UN Iraq envoy Martin Kobler said in a statement.

"I call on all Iraqis not to let violence prevail and to work together toward peace and dialogue, the only sustainable solution," he said.

Iraq has faced years of attacks by militants, but analysts say widespread discontent among members of its Sunni minority that the government has failed to address has fuelled the surge in unrest.

In May, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a shake-up of senior security officers, but the violence has continued unabated.

Iraqi Sunnis accuse the Shiite-led government of marginalising and targeting their community, including via unwarranted arrests and terrorism charges.

Protests broke out in Sunni-majority areas at the end of 2012 and are still ongoing.

On April 23, security forces moved against protesters near the town of Hawijah in the north, sparking clashes that killed 53 people and sending tensions soaring.

More than 450 people have been killed each month from April to the present.

In addition to security problems, the government in Baghdad is also failing to provide adequate basic services such as electricity and clean water, and corruption is widespread.

Political squabbling has paralysed the government, which has passed almost no major legislation in years.


Source : Sapa-AFP /aw
Date : 21 Jul 2013 20:52
 
grantza said:
Speaks volumes !
Click to expand...

Not really dude, the shiites for most part are peaceful. It is the sunni okes who have al queda wrecking havoc across the region. There was a reason saddam ruled with an iron fist. He knew whether the majority or minority had power there would be civil war.

The sick thing is when we go to the market or out for that mater we don't have to worry about much. Iraq's drive with their windows open in some cases they smash out the front and back window and drive like that. You can't gather at a market. Anyone can be a bomber, any car can be loaded. The americans know all about the problems you get when you don't your enemy.

With al queda strengthening and a weak iraqi government scared of doing what saddam did to the shia(in this case sunni) population it will escalate even further. Like i said give them freedom and they don't care about peace, all they want is war with each other. That is why i changed my views on israel.

Shia population seem to have same the religion like Christianity(teachings are not warped) but the sunnis they are fractured, some are taught the good ways some are taught to hate anyone who don't follow their beliefs.
 
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Assault on Iraqi Jail kills 12

Gunmen attacked two Iraqi jails in an attempt to free prisoners overnight, killing at least 12 members of the security forces and wounding another 40, officials said on Monday.

The coordinated attacks on the prisons of Taji, north of Baghdad, and Abu Ghraib, west of the Iraqi capital, lasted about 10 hours, they said.

Seven inmates managed to escape from Abu Ghraib during the clashes, a police colonel said.


Source : Sapa-AFP /pk
Date : 22 Jul 2013 08:52
 
Suicide Attack kills 12 in Northern Iraq

A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laded car into an army patrol in northern Iraq early Monday morning, killing at least 12 people, police and medical officials said.

The suicide bomber hit the patrol while traveling in a residential area in the city of Mosul, killing nine soldiers and three civilians, a police officer said. He added that 14 others, included four civilians, were wounded.

Mosul, 360 kilometers (220 miles) northwest of Baghdad, is one of Iraq's major flashpoints. A recent wave of bloodshed has killed more than 2,000 Iraqis since the start of April, the deadliest outbreak of violence in five years.

Also Monday, Iraqi officials put the casualty toll from attacks against two major prisons near Baghdad the night before at four soldiers and three policemen killed and 20 wounded.

Two police officers said the attacks started with bombs and mortar rounds at Taji prison, 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Baghdad. A suicide car bomber then attacked the main gate, sparking clashes between militants and the guards. Four soldiers were killed and eleven others wounded, they said.

In separate clashes at a prison in Abu Ghraib in Baghdad's western suburbs, three policemen were killed and nine others wounded, they added. Two car bombs and two explosives-laden belts were found later near the prison.

No prisoners escaped during either assault, they said.

Three medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

More than 450 people have been killed so far in July, including at least 284 since the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began, according to an Associated Press count.


Source : Sapa-AP /pk
Date : 22 Jul 2013 09:55
 
Death Toll in Prison Attacks up to 41

At least 41 people were killed in clashes that raged overnight after militants launched coordinated attacks on two Iraqi prisons in an attempt to free inmates, officials said Monday.

At least 20 members of the Iraqi security forces and 21 prisoners died in the violence, the officials said, without providing any figures for casualties among the assailants.


Source : Sapa-AFP /sdv
Date : 22 Jul 2013 12:19
 
Up to 1,000 prisoners escaped from the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad when gunmen stormed it, a lawmaker said Monday.

"Between 500 and 1,000 prisoners escaped, mostly members of the al-Qaeda network, from the Abu Ghraib prison," Hakem al-Zamli, a member of parliament's security and defence committee, said on Sunday's incident.

"It cannot be tolerated," he said. "... Those proven negligent in the prison's administration must be held accountable."


Source : Sapa-dpa /sdv
Date : 22 Jul 2013 12:48
 
Al Qaeda claims Responsibility for Prison Attacks

An Al-Qaeda front group Tuesday claimed brazen assaults on Iraqi prisons that freed hundreds of militants including top leaders, killed over 40 people and threatened to erode confidence in the government.

The attacks on the prisons in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, and Taji, north of the capital, illustrate both the growing reach of militants and the deteriorating security situation in Iraq.

Spiralling violence in Iraq has killed more than 620 people so far in July, making it the deadliest month of a year in which over 2,800 have died in unrest, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.

"The mujahideen (holy warriors), after months of preparation and planning, targeted two of the largest prisons of the Safavid government," said a statement signed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, using a pejorative term for Shiites.

The statement said "hundreds" of inmates, among them 500 militants, were freed in the attacks.

It also said the operation was the final one in a campaign aimed at freeing prisoners and targeting justice system officials, which was called for in an audio statement attributed to the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, last year.

The statement, posted on a jihadist forum, came as security forces hunted intensely for the escapees, said by MPs to number at least 500, before they are able to rejoin the ranks of the militants.

"Dark days are waiting for Iraq. Some of those who escaped are senior leaders of Al-Qaeda, and the operation was executed for this group of leaders," a senior security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"Those who escaped will work on committing acts of revenge, most of which might be suicide attacks."

In what appears to have been a carefully planned operation, militants waiting outside the prisons launched their attacks after inmates inside began rioting.

"There were riots and then the prisoners took control of some guns and called the groups that were waiting outside," said the security official.

Militants then attacked with mortar rounds, bombs and gunfire, sparking clashes with security forces that raged for 10 hours.

At least 20 security forces members and 21 inmates died.

Officials have declared "a curfew around the two prisons, where ongoing search operations are being conducted," justice ministry spokesman Wissam al-Fraiji told AFP.

Fraiji said 108 escaped prisoners had been recaptured, and reinforcements from the interior and justice ministries have been sent to the two prisons.

MP Hakem al-Zamili, a member of parliament's security and defence committee, confirmed senior Al-Qaeda members had escaped, and expressed fear they would return to haunt Iraq.

"Most of the inmates who escaped from Abu Ghraib prison were senior members in the Al-Qaeda organisation and (had been) sentenced to death," Zamili told AFP.

"These terrorists will go to Syria to return to the (Al-Qaeda) organisation and return again to Iraq to carry out terrorist attacks against the Iraqi people."

Al-Qaeda-linked fighters are among those battling the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, which shares a long border with Iraq.

The conflict pits mainly Sunni Muslim rebels against Assad, a member of the Alawite sect, which is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

It has spilled over the border and raised tensions in Iraq. Both Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites have travelled to Syria to fight.

The prison assaults and escapes illustrate the woeful security situation in Iraq and threaten to undermine confidence in the government.

"The escape of prisoners in this organised way from the biggest prisons in Iraq is another sign of the deterioration of security in Iraq in general, and Baghdad in particular," said Hamid Fadhel, a Baghdad University political science professor.

"It seems that the security situation is the victim of the political conflict in Iraq today," he said, referring to long-running political disputes that have paralysed the government's work.

The assaults and mass escapes "affect people's trust in the security forces and in the government, because people will start to worry that the criminal can commit a crime, go to prison, and then get out easily," said Ali al-Haidari, a security and strategic affairs expert.

"What happened puts the government in a very embarrassing situation. What we saw was a huge attack with large numbers of fighters, and it seems that the guards of the two prisons were not able to stop such an attack," he said.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mm
Date : 23 Jul 2013 17:25
 
"These terrorists will go to Syria to return to the (Al-Qaeda) organisation and return again to Iraq to carry out terrorist attacks against the Iraqi people."
Click to expand...

Also to the Sinai...

"The escape of prisoners in this organised way from the biggest prisons in Iraq is another sign of the deterioration of security in Iraq in general, and Baghdad in particular," said Hamid Fadhel, a Baghdad University political science professor.
Click to expand...

No, it's another sign that the governments everywhere, with radical Muslims in prison, keep forgetting that it's standard MO, to attack prisons to free members.

These prisoners need to be "spirited away", separated by as far a distance as possible from each other, then dealt with by specialized units, from judiciary to guards.
 
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In football-crazy Iraq, pitches hit by deadly attacks

Umm Ibrahim stood weeping near a symbolic gravestone at the football pitch in Baghdad where her 13-year-old son was killed in one of a spate of recent deadly attacks on Iraqi grounds.

"Why did they kill our children? They have nothing in this life but playing football," she said Ibrahim, which means "Mother of Ibrahim".

Her son was one of 18 people killed in February when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt at the football pitch in the Shuala area of Baghdad, followed by a car bomb that exploded nearby.

Eighteen headstones, some of them bearing pictures of the victims and small fluttering Iraqi flags, have been placed as a symbolic memorial at one end of the football pitch, near the spot where the bomber struck.

Abu Amir, a retired army sergeant who lost three of his nephews, aged 11, 12 and 15, in the attack, was also visiting the site.

"These children are innocent victims; they don't have any guilt," he said.

With Iraq's football grounds hit by a series of attacks, there was no longer a place for children to play, lamented Abu Samir.

He called on security forces to "protect the fields from criminal bastards".

Iraq has been plagued by the worst violence to hit the country since 2008, killing more than 2,900 people so far this year.

Football pitches and even cafes broadcasting matches have become a target for attacks by militants, and the violence has taken a toll on the much-loved sport in Iraq.

FIFA, football's governing body, barred Iraq from hosting international friendlies due to the spike in unrest after having lifted the ban just a few months before.

And violence also pushed the manager of Iraq's top local football side to quit after refusing to travel to Baghdad over fears of attacks.

In Iraq, football is one of the few unifiers among the country's divided religious and ethnic communities.

Iraq's national team won the Asian Cup in 2007, providing a unifying source of pride during the height of bloody Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence in which tens of thousands of people died.

And this year, during the current surge in unrest, Iraqis tuned in to see their team place fourth in the Under-20 World Cup.

Football is a small bright spot amid the myriad of difficulties --ranging from deadly attacks to severely lacking basic services and widespread corruption -- that Iraqis face.

"Targeting the people, and especially the children, is an ugly crime against humanity," said Abdulamir Abboud, a prominent Shuala resident who works for Iraq's Olympic committee. "Children are far from politics and conflicts."

Abboud said that the number of people coming to the field in Shuala to play football fell after the attack, and sometimes no one came to watch the children play.

He called on the Iraqi government to curb the spiralling violence.

"The bloodshed must stop... Killing one child might topple a whole government in another place," he said.

In the Zafraniyah area of Baghdad, players have returned to a pitch where a car bomb killed five people and wounded 10 in June.

"The explosion was a failed attempt to stop (everyday) life," said Bassem Sakran, a member of the municipal council for the area.

Players only stopped coming for a limited period, and that was for "mourning the souls of the victims", he said.

"We returned for training and we will never stop," he said, acknowledging nonetheless that football training for players under 12 had been halted because families objected, fearing for their sons' lives.

"The Zafraniyah explosion had a negative effect on the spirits of the players, but it did not stop us," said Saif Abdulhussein, the captain of a local Zafraniyah football team.

"Terrorism wants us to walk on its path, but we will not stop playing football," he said.


Source : Sapa-AFP /dm
Date : 24 Jul 2013 05:30
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130724/football-crazy-iraq-pitches-hit-deadly-attacks
 
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