Bombs in Shi'ite areas kill 72 after Saddam hanged

Baghdad, Dec 31: Four car bombs targeting Shi'ites in Baghdadand a town south of the capital killed more than 70 people today, hoursafter Saddam Hussein was hanged amid fears of revenge by his Sunni Arabsupporters.

In Baghdad, three car bombs exploded in quick succession in themainly Shi'ite neighbourhood of Hurriya, killing 36 people and wounding77, an Interior Ministry source said.

Police in Kufa, near the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf, said 36people were killed and 58 wounded by the car bomb at a market packedwith shoppers ahead of the week-long Eid al-Adha holiday.

They said a mob killed a man they accused of planting the bomb in the town about 160 km south of Baghdad.

The attacks came the same day as Saddam was hanged for crimesagainst humanity, prompting fears of a violent backlash by hissupporters among his fellow Sunni Arabs.

While the attacks may have been a swift response to the execution,such bombings are common in a country where at least 100 people die onaverage every day in bombings, mortar attacks and death squad killings.Though today's bombings may have been planned independently of theexecution.

They were typical of the cycle of sectarian violence that isdriving both Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs and others from their homes,increasingly dividing Baghdad and surrounding areas on sectariangrounds. Bombs frequently provoke reprisals from militias, whosepractice is to kidnap, torture and shoot their victims, leaving thebodies dumped in places where they will intimidate.

A formerly mixed neighbourhood, Hurriya, where the three car bombsstruck on Saturday, has become increasingly dominated by Shi'ites asSunni Arabs have been driven out by threats and attacks.

Saddam's execution was welcome by Shi'ites and Kurds, who wereoppressed under his rule, but many in the once dominant Sunni Arabminority were angry and all sides feared it could spark even moreviolence.

Reuters