Dozens slain as car bomb hits Iraqi bus station

updated 8:53 p.m. ET April 14, 2007

BAGHDAD - Insurgents exploded a car bomb Saturday near one of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines in Karbala, killing at least 37 people and wounding more than 150 in another bloody assault during a surge of violence outside Baghdad during the capital’s security crackdown. At least 16 children were among the dead, officials said.

A suicide bomber also struck in Baghdad, blowing up his car on a major bridge and killing 10 in the second such attack in 48 hours.

Chaotic arguing erupted in Iraq’s legislature, with the parliament speaker shouting for order as lawmakers squabbled over who was to blame for holes in security that allowed a suicide bomber to mingle among them Thursday and kill a Sunni Arab lawmaker.

The political wrangling underlined the continuing weakness of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government despite a more than 2-month-old U.S.-Iraqi military operation intended to pacify Baghdad and give his regime room to function.

The crackdown, which will land 30,000 additional American troops in Iraq by the end of next month, comes as opposition to the strategy grows in Washington and emerges as a central issue in the U.S. presidential campaign.

Al-Maliki says U.S. behind him
A possible presidential contender and one of the most vocal Republican critics of President Bush’s Iraq policy, Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, was in Baghdad and planned to hold a news conference here Sunday. It was his fifth trip to the war zone.

In an interview broadcast Saturday, al-Maliki said he believed U.S. support for his administration was steadfast.

“I feel that there is strong support because success would mean a civilized and democratic process,” he told Al-Arabiya television. “I don’t feel any change ... despite differences within the American government.”

The crackdown also brought a Pentagon decision this past week to extend the deployments of U.S. troops from 12 to 15 months — a situation that the U.S. commander in Iraq acknowledged Saturday was “tough news.”

In a letter to his troops, Gen. David Petraeus expressed appreciation for “the hardship and strain the extension will put on you and your families,” and he warned of “an enormous amount of hard work ahead.”

Attack targeted bus station
In addition to the bombings in Karbala and Baghdad, at least 40 people were killed or found dead across Iraq on Saturday. The U.S. military announced the death of one service member, killed Friday by a roadside bomb in southern Iraq.

The bloodshed in Karbala came when a parked car loaded with explosives blew up at a busy bus station at midmorning, killing at least 37 people and wounding 168, police and hospital officials said. Other reports put the death toll as high as 56.

The station is about 200 yards from one of Shiite Muslims’ holiest spots — the Imam Hussein shrine, where the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson is buried. The shrine, 50 miles south of Baghdad, is the destination of an annual Shiite pilgrimage, during which hundreds of faithful were slain last month.

A makeshift triage center was set up in tents near the blast site. A man guided a wooden cart piled with body parts through a tangle of IV bags. The charred body of a child lay motionless on a stretcher.

‘I want my father’
At least 16 children were among the dead, said Interior Ministry spokesman, Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf. Iranian and Pakistani pilgrims were also among the casualties, hospital officials said.

“I want my father. Where is my father?” cried Sajad Kadhim, an 11-year-old lying on the ground as doctors treated his burns.

“All I remember was we were shopping. My father was holding my hand and suddenly there was a big explosion. I don’t know where my father is. I want my father,” the boy cried.

Mourners swarmed ambulances, beating their chests and crying out in grief. Some stormed the Karbala governor’s office, demanding his resignation and blaming local authorities for lax security. Two police vehicles were set afire.

A spokesman for a top Shiite cleric in Karbala, Mohammed Taqi al-Mudarsi, said three civilians were killed in clashes with police.

“The behavior of Iraqi security forces was uncivil,” said the spokesman, Ahmed Al-Shakarji. “People were trying to rescue their relatives and friends ... but the security forces opened fire on them.”

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