BOM kereta membunuh 31 pada ‘Food market’ berhampiran Baghdad

Penduduk berkumpul di tapak serangan bom kereta di Baghdad November 20, 2013. (Residents gather at the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad November 20, 2013. (Reuters/Ahmed Saad - think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)

SitiWanMahani - Satu letupan bom kereta di ‘Food market’ yang penuh sesak berham-piran Baghdad telah membunuh sekurang-kurangnya 31 orang dan mencederakan hampir 50, pegawai perubatan dan pegawai-pegawai tempatan berkata.

Ikut garis RT terhadap keganasan di Iraq pada tahun 2013 (Follow RT’s timeline of Iraq violence in 2013)

Serangan Khamis berlaku di Saadiyah, sebuah bandar di wilayah Diyala timur laut ibu kota Iraq.

“Saya sedang duduk di kedai saya apabila saya terdengar bunyi letupan yang besar. Saya tidak dapat mengenal pasti apa-apa kerana debu2 melanda tempat itu. Kaca bertaburan di mana-mana,” Reuters memetik kedai runcit pemilik Suhair Gadhban sebagai berkata.

Bom meletup pada kira-kira tengah hari dan sasaran ‘Food market’, yang terletak di kawasan kejiranan yang dihuni kebanyakannya oleh Faylis, atau Syiah Kurd, menurut pegawai-pegawai.

Polis tempatan memetik saksi-saksi sebagai berkata bahawa seorang lelaki yang meletakkan trak mengandungi bom di ‘Food market’, dan meminta pekerja untuk memunggah sayur-sayuran sebelum meninggalkannya, AP melaporkan.

“Sesetengah daripada mereka [adalah] terbunuh dan yang lain cedera parah dan telah menjerit meminta pertolongan,” Suhair kepada Reuters melalui telefon.

Beberapa kematian telah disahkan oleh 2 pegawai perubatan, yang bercakap dengan syarat tidak mahu namanya disiarkan kerana mereka tidak dibenarkan untuk bercakap kepada media. Serangan itu membawa kematian di seluruh negara bulan ini kepada hampir 500 orang, menurut Counter Badan Iraq.

Setakat ini tiada kumpulan telah mengaku bertanggungjawab terhadap serangan tersebut.

Car bomb kills 31 at food market near Baghdad (PHOTOS)

A car bomb explosion in a packed market near Baghdad has killed at least 31 people and injured nearly 50, local medics and officials said. 

Follow RT’s timeline of Iraq violence in 2013

Thursday’s attack took place in Saadiyah, a town in the Diyala province, northeast of Iraq’s capital. 

"I was sitting in my store when I heard a huge explosion. I could not recognize anything because dust engulfed the place. Shattered glass was everywhere," Reuters cited grocery store owner Suhair Gadhban as saying.

The bomb went off at about noon and targeted the food market, located in a neighborhood populated mostly by Faylis, or Shia Kurds, according to officials.

Local police cited witnesses as saying that a man parked the truck containing the bomb in the market, and asked workers to unload the vegetables before leaving it, AP reports.

"Some of them [were] killed and others were seriously wounded and were screaming for help," Suhair told Reuters by phone.

A number of casualties have been confirmed by two medical officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.  The attack brought the death toll across the country this month to almost 500 people, according to Iraqi Body Count.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

Seorang lelaki kelihatan di tapak serangan bom di sebuah kafe di daerah al-Bayaa Baghdad, 21 November, 2013. (A man looks at the site of a bomb attack at a cafe in Baghdad's al-Bayaa district, November 21, 2013. (Reuters/Ahmed Malik  - think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)

Keganasan baru-baru ini sehari selepas satu siri serangan, kebanyakannya oleh bom kereta, melanda kawasan kebanyakannya Syiah dan komersial di Baghdad, membunuh sekurang-kurangnya 24 orang dan mencederakan 87 yang lain.

Dengan lebih 7,000 korban awam yang dicatatkan pada tahun melalui awal November, 2013 telah menjadi tahun yang dahsyat di Iraq sejak tahun 2008.

Setiap bulan beratus-ratus rakyat Iraq sedang terbunuh dalam keganasan di seluruh negara. Kekerapan serangan bom telah menimbulkan kebimbangan bahawa negara ini boleh terjerumus ke arah pertumpahan darah mazhab sama pada tahun 2006-07, apabila berpuluh-puluh ribu yang mati.

Pada bulan Oktober, Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu meletakkan jumlah kematian sebanyak 979 rakyat Iraq terbunuh dan 1,793 orang awam cedera dalam serangan dalam bulan itu sahaja, dengan Baghdad yang merupakan kawasan yang paling teruk yang terjejas.

“Setiap hari, setiap minggu, setiap bulan, puluhan, jika tidak beratus-ratus, rakyat Iraq yang tidak bersalah yang terbunuh atau cedera yang mendalam. Ini adalah tidak masuk akal,” kata PBB itu.

The recent violence a day after a series of attacks, mostly by car bombs, hit predominantly Shiite and commercial areas of Baghdad, killing at least 24 people and wounding another 87.

With over 7,000 civilian casualties recorded in the year through the beginning of November, 2013 has become the deadliest year in Iraq since 2008. 

Every month hundreds of Iraqis are being killed in violence nationwide. The frequency of bomb attacks has raised fears that the country could be sliding towards sectarian bloodshed similar to in 2006-07, when tens of thousands died.

In October, the United Nations put the death toll at 979 Iraqis killed and 1,793 civilians injured in attacks within that month alone, with Baghdad being the worst affected area.

“Every day, every week, every month, dozens, if not hundreds, of innocent Iraqis are killed or deeply wounded. This is senseless,” the UN said then.

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