BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A spasm of retaliatory violence, claimed by al-Qaida in the name of Sunni insurgents, ripped through Baghdad Wednesday. At least 160 people were killed and 570 wounded in more than a dozen highly coordinated bombings -- the capital's bloodiest day since the end of major combat.\nThe massive campaign of violence terrorized the capital for more than nine hours. The first attack, at 6:30 a.m., was the deadliest: a suicide car blast which tore through assembled day laborers in the predominantly Shiite Muslim neighborhood of Kazimiyah.\nIn what was believed to be a new tactic, the bomber set off the explosive after calling the construction and other workers to his small van and enticing them with promises of employment, a witness said. At least 112 people were killed and more than 200 were wounded, Health Ministry officials said. Twisted hulks of vehicles blocked the bloodstained main street in Kazimiyah's Oruba Square.\nAl-Qaida's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, purportedly declared "all-out war" on Shiites, Iraqi troops and the government in an audiotape posted Wednesday on an Internet site known for carrying extremist Islamic content.\nThe al-Zarqawi tape was a clear attempt, coming on the heels of the attacks, to create a climate of fear, sow deeper sectarian discord and scare Iraqis away from the Oct. 15 referendum on a new constitution.\nIraqi forces arrested two insurgents in connection with the Kazimiyah bombing, one of them a Palestinian and the other a Libyan, Iraqi television quoted Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari as saying. Al-Jaafari also said the suicide bomber was a Syrian.\nThe attacks came as U.S. and Iraqi forces pressed their offensive against insurgents in the northern city of Tal Afar and along the Euphrates River valley, striking hard at what officials have said were militants sneaking across the border from Syria.\nAl-Qaida in Iraq said in a Web posting that it launched the attacks, some less than 10 minutes apart, in response to the Tal Afar offensive, which began Saturday and evicted most insurgents from the city.\n"To the nation of Islam, we give you the good news that the battles of revenge for the Sunni people of Tal Afar began yesterday," said the al-Qaida statement posted on a militant Web site. Its authenticity could not be confirmed. It was unclear why the statement referred to "yesterday."\nThe audiotape was posted later Wednesday. The speaker, introduced as al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, said his militant forces would attack any Iraqi they believe has cooperated with the Tal Afar offensive.\n"If proven that any of (Iraq's) national guards, police or army are agents of the Crusaders, they will be killed and his house will demolished or burned -- after evacuating all women and children -- as a punishment," the speaker said.\nBut most of the victims Wednesday were civilians.\nAt Baghdad's Kazimiyah Hospital, dozens of wounded men lay on stretchers and gurneys, their bandages and clothes soaked in blood. One older man in a traditional Arab gown and checkered head scarf sat in a plastic chair, his blood-soaked underwear exposed and a trail of dried blood snaking down his legs.\nAs the hours ticked by, at least 11 other car or roadside bombs shattered what had been a few days of relative calm in Baghdad. Two mortar attacks were reported and a multitude of gunbattles broke out between U.S. and Iraqi forces and insurgent attackers.\nIn addition Wednesday, attackers killed 17 men -- including Iraqi drivers and construction workers for the U.S. military -- in a Sunni village north of Baghdad before dawn. That raised the death toll in and around the capital Wednesday to 177. A senior Health Ministry official said 570 people were wounded in all.\nAt least six attacks targeted U.S. forces, Iraqi authorities said. The U.S. military said there were four direct attacks on Americans, with 10 soldiers wounded. No U.S. deaths were reported.\nAl-Jaafari, in the United States for the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting, expressed "his personal sorrow for the victims of the attacks," his office said.
Highly coordinated al-Qaida bombings kill at least 160 in Baghdad Wednesday; 570 injured
Bloodiest day in Iraq since end of major combat
Get stories like this in your inbox
Subscribe