Iraq Ministries Targeted in Car Bombings; Over 130 Dead
ROD NORDLAND
NY Times
Sunday, Oct 25th, 2009
BAGHDAD ? A pair of suicide car bombs exploded almost simultaneously in downtown Baghdad on Sunday, targeting two government buildings and killing at least 132 people and wounding 520, according to the Ministry of the Interior. The official said the toll may rise even more.
The blasts came just over two months after suicide truck bombs were exploded outside the Finance and Foreign Ministries in Baghdad, killing 122 persons, many of them ministry employees. The high death tolls then were blamed at least in part on the removal of blast-proof walls from outside the ministries.
The two buildings targeted Sunday, the Baghdad Provincial Council building and the Ministry of Justice building, were both located on busy Haifa Street less than a quarter mile apart. Blast walls in front of those ministries had been moved back off the road in recent weeks.
The fronts of both buildings were heavily damaged, and many cars were incinerated in the road, which is normally choked with heavy traffic on Sunday mornings.
