96 die in attacks across Iraq_美文_趣味英语-查字典英语网

96 die in attacks across Iraq

He said the first blast went off as dinner was being served in one of several tents set up for the funeral of a member of the al-Fartousi tribe. He estimated that more than 500 people were attending the event.

Civilian pickup trucks loaded with casualties, and ambulances with sirens blaring were seen racing from the scene.

Hussein Abdul-Khaliq, a government employee who lives nearby, said the tents were packed with mourners when the blasts went off.

He described seeing several lifeless bodies on the ground, and wounded women and children.The clothes of several victims were soaked with blood, and firefighters had to leave the scene to refill tanker trucks with water as they struggled to contain an immense blaze, he said.

"This funeral was not a military post or a ministry building, yet it was still targeted," Abdul-Khaliqsaid. "This shows that no place and no one is safe in Iraq."

Less than two hours after the funeral attack, another car bomb blast struck a commercial street in the nearby Ur neighborhood, killing nine people and wounding 14, police said.

Gunmen later shot up a shop that had been discreetly selling liquor in the largely Sunni neighborhood of Azamiyah, killing four people, police said.

Earlier in the day, insurgents launched a suicide attack on a police commando headquarters in the city of Beiji, an oil refining center 250 km north of Baghdad. Guards managed to kill one suicide bomber, but the three others were able to set off their explosive belts inside the compound, killing seven policemen and wounding 21 others, police said.