Baghdad death toll keeps rising
Smoke rises from the site of an explosion near Iraq's foreign ministry. (Photo: Khalid Mohammed/AP)
Absolutely terrible what happened in Baghdad this morning. At least 95 people were killed in bombings across the city, and more than 560 were wounded. (The initial estimate, which we reported this morning, was 45 dead and 300 wounded.)
The pictures coming out of Baghdad show rows of blackened cars, huge craters in the ground, large fires -- terrible scenes.
Here's what we know about the individual bombings:
The first attack of the morning was at the finance ministry, followed quickly by a mortar attack on the Green Zone. The exact number of casualties from those two attacks is unclear.
The largest blast was outside of the foreign ministry, near the Green Zone. A truck full of explosives was parked in a garage across the street; the force of the blast ripped through the ten-story ministry building. This bombing killed at least 60 people and wounded at least 250; the final death toll will likely grow higher.
Another car bomb, also near the finance ministry, killed 19 people and wounded 22.
A bombing in a commercial area in Baiyaa, a district in western Baghdad, killed two people and wounded 16.
The final attack, in another commercial district -- Bab al-Muadham -- killed six and wounded 24.
The New York Times has some more photos and a video posted on its Web site. The Independent says Iraqi authorities are blaming the attacks on Sunni insurgents.
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Categories: Iraq, Regional News, War and Terrorism, War in Iraq
Tags: insurgency, Iraqi parliament
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