NAJAF,
— Three bombs exploded in quick succession after sunset Thursday in the
southern holy city of Najaf, killing at least one person and injuring
scores of others, according to preliminary reports from Iraqi
authorities.
Eyewitnesses said they saw at least 10 dead at the
scene, but their accounts couldn’t be verified immediately. The blast
site was sealed off and emergency crews were still working in the
evening.
The explosions targeted a crowded open-air vegetable
market near the landmark Imam Ali shrine, a popular pilgrimage
destination for Shiite Muslims from around the world.
Early reports from police and Iraqi state television said that a homemade bomb had exploded near the shrine at
As emergency crews responded, police discovered a
parked car rigged with a bomb but couldn’t defuse it before it, too,
detonated. The area already had been evacuated, a move that saved
lives, said Najaf’s police chief, Maj. Gen.
“We had received intelligence that there was some
activity to be undertaken by the Saddamist gangs in the form of
explosive operations in order to destabilize the security situation in
the city,” Mustafa said.
“We took the required precautions and enforced
stringent restrictions on all the entrances to the city. The result was
that we were able to reach the car bomb in time, but, unfortunately, we
lost control during the defusing process. In spite of that, and in
spite of the many injured, we believe that casualties were minimal,
taking into consideration the crowded location.”
Streets leading to the pedestrian-only area around
the shrine were sealed off after the blasts, and Iraqi security forces
sent reinforcements to Najaf.
—
(c) 2010, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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