Triple Bombing Kills at Least 28 in Iraq

An Iraqi policeman examines a car bomb that was detonated by US military bomb technicians before it reached its target in Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Nov. 9, 2008. Police said the would-be bombers were arrested on the scene. (AP Photo/Emad Matti) (Emad Matti - AP)

BAGHDAD, Nov. 10--A triple bombing Monday morning destroyed a minibus full of passengers and rained glass and debris on people nearby, leaving at least 28 dead and 50 wounded in the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital in months, police and witnesses said.

The attack showed the resilience of extremist networks that continue to target politicians, police and ordinary Iraqis with explosives, even as overall violence in Iraq has dropped and the Iraqi security forces have grown in strength and numbers.

The attack occurred Monday morning in the al-Kasrah district of northern Baghdad, which has a mixed population of Sunnis and Shiites.

A white Volkswagen Passat parked in a street separating two restaurants blew up at about 8 a.m., as a minibus carrying approximately 20 passengers drove by, witnesses said. Moments later, two roadside bombs exploded on either side of the booby-trapped car, causing further casualties.

Imad Karim, 38, the owner of the Abu Wael restaurant, which was damaged by the car bomb, said most of the victims appeared to be passengers on the bus, including three children and several women. Two of his customers and one worker were also killed when the explosion shattered windows and caused the metal roof to collapse as diners ate breakfast, he said.

"We are not feeling safe," he said, standing outside his restaurant, amid twisted metal grates and rubble. "There is no security, we only hear about the security from the TV stations."

A government employee who gave his name as Abu Ahmed said he was eating in a restaurant nearby when he heard the blasts. He came running to the scene.

"I was torn between wanting to help them and wanting to cry about the terrible situation," he said. He said he loaded nine of the injured into the back of his pickup truck and squeezed in two more in front and sped them to the hospital.

U.S. Col. John Hort, commander of the 3rd brigade, 4th Infantry Division, arrived at the scene with U.S. soldiers after the blast and vowed to arrest the culprits. Hort also suggested to shop owners that they should add blast walls to the area to prevent further bombings.

The street where the booby-trapped car was parked had been blocked off by hip-high concrete barriers, but someone had moved the barriers to allow cars to pass to reach nearby shops.

Mohammad al-Askari, a Defense Ministry spokesman, said on Arabiya TV that the bombings killed 28 people and wounded more than 50.

U.S. and Iraqi security forces have focused intently on reducing car bombs in the city, blocking off streets and establishing checkpoints. On Monday, American soldiers captured a man who allegedly was involved in planning an Oct. 12 car bombing on a market in southern Baghdad that killed at least five people, according to a news release from the U.S. military.

The man, believed to be a member of al-Qaeda in Iraq, a mostly homegrown group of Sunni extremists, was captured in a house in western Baghdad where soldiers discovered numerous detonators and blasting caps, the release said.

The statement said another alleged member of the group's car-bomb network was captured in the western Mansour neighborhood, one of the capital's most exclusive.

Meanwhile, in the central Iraqi city of Baqubah, a female suicide bomber blew herself up at a checkpoint near the city market manned by U.S.-paid neighborhood guards known as Sons of Iraq, police said.

Four people were killed, including a local Sons of Iraq leader, Ahmad al-Azzawi, said Col. Raghib al-Umairy, a spokesman for the provincial police. Among the 15 injured was a 13-year-old boy. Faisal al-Shimmari, 33, a Sons of Iraq guard at the checkpoint, said the bomber was seen walking toward al-Azzawi in the seconds before the blast. "She was pretending to ask for help, and in moments she blew herself up and killed our commander," he said.