Children massacred in Iraq bombs

[Talon]

Children massacred in Iraq bombs

Dozens of children have been killed in co-ordinated bomb blasts in Baghdad.

Officials said at least 34 children were among 41 or more people killed when bombs were detonated near a water treatment plant as US troops passed by.

At least 130 more were injured, many from the crowds gathered to watch an opening ceremony at the plant.

Reports said a car bomb was followed by two more explosions as people rushed to help the injured. Deadly attacks were also reported elsewhere in Iraq.

The casualties include:

Two Iraqi policemen and a US soldier killed in the Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad by a car bomb that also left dozens injured

A US soldier killed by a rocket fired at a US base near Baghdad

A senior policeman shot dead in Mosul

Four people killed in a car bombing in Talafar that also injured about 16 others

At least four children among six or seven people killed in Falluja after US forces allegedly fired on their car

At least three civilians killed in a US air strike on Falluja overnight.

'Evil attack'

Reports from Baghdad said hospitals struggled to cope with the mass influx of casualties from the apparently co-ordinated bombings in the south-west of Baghdad.

Many of the injured - who included 10 US soldiers - suffered shrapnel wounds, correspondents said.

Pools of blood formed on the hospital floors, while at the scene of the blasts, people picked through blood-stained wreckage to recover body parts, news agencies said.

"This attack was carried out by evil people who do not want the Iraqis to celebrate and don't want [construction] projects in Iraq," National Guard Lieutenant Ahmad Saad told the Associated Press news agency at the scene.

Hours earlier, another car bomber drove into a US military checkpoint near the mayor's office and a police station in the Abu Ghraib district of Baghdad, near the notorious prison, the US said.

The blast sent shrapnel flying around near a busy junction milling with crowds of people, an interior ministry spokesman told the Reuters news agency.

A doctor spoke of 60 people injured in the attack, which happened at about 0945 (0545 GMT).

"This despicable act killed not only a multinational forces soldier, but Iraqis who were merely going about their business of defending this country," Col Jim Hutton of the US 1st Cavalry Division said in a statement.

"The terrorists offer nothing but destruction."

'Arms store'

In Falluja, doctors said at least three people were reported killed in a US air strike. They were said to include at least one woman and one child.

The US army said in a statement it had targeted supporters of the Islamic militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is blamed for a string of kidnappings and suicide bombings.

"Several intelligence sources reported that Zarqawi terrorists were using the safe house at the time of the strike to plan attacks against Iraqi citizens and multinational forces."

It said "significant secondary explosions during the impact" suggested arms had been stored in the house.

Up to eight people were reported injured. Witnesses said two houses were destroyed and four others damaged.

Thursday's attacks on US and Iraqi security forces come as part of an upsurge in violence in Iraq ahead of the US presidential election in November, and Iraqi elections planned for January.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3702710.stm

[Guest Lottie]

Those little innocent lives lost, heartbreaking. There seems to be far too many children losing their lives to terrorism and war...its tragic.

"The terrorists offer nothing but destruction."

Plain and simple.