2nd At least 79 killed, 190 wounded in Baghdad blasts


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Tuesday January 16, 2007

Baghdad- At least 79 Iraqis were killed and 190
wounded in four separate blasts in Baghdad Tuesday, an Iraqi police
source said.
In the latest attack, at least 60 Iraqi university students were
killed in a car bomb in eastern Baghdad, al-Arabiya TV channel
reported, citing hospital sources.

At least 110 students were wounded in the bomb, the sources said.

Al-Iraqiyah state TV reported that extremists had detonated two
car bombs outside the Mustansiriya University in Palestine street.

An attacker wearing an explosives belt had also blown himself next
to a group of students, the report added.

Earlier Tuesday, two bombs were detonated in quick succession near
a Sunni mosque in central Baghdad, killing 15 people and wounding up
to 70.

Another city-centre blast, reported to have been a roadside bomb
targeting a police patrol, killed two police officers and two
civilians. At least 10 others were wounded.

Baghad university staff have previously been kidnapped and killed
by militants.

The Chairman of the parliamentary committee on education and
training, Alaa Makki, reported Tuesday that that armed men had
kidnapped the Vice President of the Technical University of Baghdad,
Abdul Samia al-Janabi.

Pan-Arab news reports also said that 25 corpses were found
overnight across Baghdad. The bodies showed signs of torture.

The latest deaths happened as the United Nations stated that a
total of 34,452 civilians were killed in the country last year and
36,685 wounded as a result of sectarian violence and unrest.

In an update published in Geneva Tuesday, the UN Assistance
Mission in Iraq, UNAMI issued figures for November and December which
showed 6,376 civilians were killed and 6,875 were wounded.

The report said the situation remained "particularly bad" in
Baghdad where most bodies bore signs of torture.

Revenge killings, lack of accountability for past crimes and
impunity for current human rights violations were identified as the
"root causes" of the violence.

"It is essential that the State and Government of Iraq are seen as
united in their efforts to contain and eventually eradicate sectarian
violence," said the report.

This was the only way "to ensure the rule of law" and remove the
"popular basis for the perpetrators of this violence."

In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the figures
"tragic" - but blamed "internal and external terrorists", adding: "it
is not British or American soldiers who are killing them."

US-led coalition troops in Baghdad meanwhile said their forces
killed one militant and detained seven suspects during an early raid
Tuesday. The raid had targeted insurgents held responsible for
producing manufacturing car bombs.

Regional news reports said the additional US troops were on
Tuesday beginning to enter Iraq through its shared border with Kuwait
as part of the new strategy for the country announced by US President
George W Bush last Wednesday. The new strategy foresees the sending
of an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq to end ongoing violence in the
country.

Also on Tuesday, a spokesman for the justice ministry in Baghdad
said that the US military and Iraqi security forces were holding
24,000 Iraqis in detention without charge.

The spokesman said that 14,447 of the prisoners were being held by
coalition forces, 8,303 were being detained by the interior ministry
and 1,346 by the defence ministry.

The official said that prisoners were being held in terrible
conditions at both ministries, with extreme overcrowding.

Those responsible at the ministries had refused repeatedly to hand
the detainees over to the justice authorities, he said. The spokesman
also accused the US military of neglecting the issue of prisoners'
rights "so that they can get information which is important for the
secret services."

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency