Bomber kills Iraqi shoppers despite Mecca peace call

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061021/ts_afp/iraq_061021122945;_ylt=AuORRgSp1bnAIi6h72Vfa_LMWM0F;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-
Bomber kills Iraqi shoppers despite Mecca peace call

by Paul Schemm 2 hours, 9 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) - A suicide bomber has blown himself up on a bus crowded with Baghdad holiday shoppers, killing four people only hours after
Iraq's religious leaders issued a call from Mecca to end the bloodshed.

Children's clothes and toys were scattered across a bridge over the Tigris Saturday from one of Baghdad's biggest public markets, crammed with families preparing for the Eid holiday at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

"Is this the Mecca document? Killing children and those buying toys for them?" roared Abu Sajad, a stocky, white-bearded man in his 50s at the scene. "The holidays are the only days now when children are happy."

The blast came as Iraqis seized on the tenuous hope that Friday's meeting of 29 prominent religious leaders from Iraq's bitterly divided Sunni and Shiite sects would help staunch the bloody sectarian violence wracking much of the country.
.....

[bemildred]

1. I doubt that any "peace calls" are going to do much good now.

Much too late for that sort of thing.

[Eugene]

2. AP: Mortar Rounds Hit Iraqi Market; 18 Dead

Mortar Rounds Hit Iraqi Market; 18 Dead


Saturday October 21, 2006 6:01 PM

AP Photo BAG113

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Mortar rounds rained down on a crowded outdoor market
south of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 18 people and injuring dozens,
police said.

A bicycle rigged with a bomb tore through the market in Mahmoudiyah first,
followed by at least a dozen mortars, said army Capt. Oday Abdul Ridha.

Lt. Hayder Satar of the Mahmoudiyah police said 18 people were confirmed dead
in the attack on the city about 20 miles south of Baghdad. He said 52 people
were injured.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6162397,00.html