Attacks across Baghdad kill 23
Four are killed in one bombing in east Baghdad. The blast, one in a string of deadly attacks this week, leaves Iraqis fearful about their safety amid a decrease in violence.
Reporting from Baghdad — The explosion rocked the busy square as commuters were wolfing down breakfast and shopkeepers were opening for business. The death toll was relatively small: four.
But the psychological toll from today's blast on Saadoun Street and from a string of attacks this week in Baghdad was more serious. Iraqi survivors came to on pavement splashed with blood and littered with glass. They were surrounded by dead, wounded and the dread that came with realizing their nightmare was not over, even if violence was down.
"Our fears and concerns have come back after this series of explosions. This one especially frightened us a lot," said Ziad Shallal Shuraifi, a vendor on Saadoun Street. "We are now afraid of any carton left near the roadside, any nylon bag, any car left near us."
It's no wonder. By nightfall, 23 people were dead in attacks across Baghdad. Since Monday, according to police statistics, roadside bombs, car bombs and suicide bombers wearing explosives belts have killed 58 people in the capital. That does not include deaths elsewhere, including two Christian women slain today in the northern city of Mosul, where Christians say they have been caught in the middle of a war for power between Kurds and Sunni Arabs.
Also today, two U.S. soldiers died and six were wounded in an altercation with an Iraqi soldier at a U.S.-Iraqi base in Mosul. The U.S. military and Iraqi officials said the Iraqi soldier was killed in the gunfight.
U.S. military officials say this week's violence, coming after a steady downward trend in attacks, does not mean insurgents are staging a comeback. Baghdad and its environs continue to experience a daily average of four attacks a day on security forces and civilians, compared with more than 20 a day about a year ago, Brig. Gen. William Grimsley, deputy commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, said Monday after bombers killed 31 people in northeast Baghdad's Kasra district.
"We're in the post-Ramadan, pre-provincial election, post-U.S. election season," he said, attempting to explain developments here and abroad that could provoke insurgents to step up activities.
Violence traditionally picks up after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ended in October. Iraq's provincial elections, to be held this winter, have rival political groups jockeying for power. And a perceived power vacuum in the White House until President-elect Barack Obama takes office could encourage some groups to rev up violence.
