Suicide bombings kill 76, top al-Qaida militant captured in Iraq

Source: Xinhua | 04-24-2009 10:16

by Jamal Hashim

BAGHDAD, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Iraq was rocked by two suicide bombings which killed 76 people and wounded some 120 others on Thursday as the security forces announced the capture of a suspected top leader of al-Qaida in Iraq network.

The most deadly attack occurred near the town of Maqdadiyah, some 100 km northeast of Baghdad, in the volatile province of Diyala, when a suicide bomber struck Iranian Shiite pilgrims inside a restaurant during lunch time.

Residents gather at the site of a suicide bombing in Baghdad  April 23, 2009. A suicide bomber wearing a vest stuffed with  explosives blew himself up in a group of police distributing  relief supplies in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 28  people and wounding 50, Iraqi police said.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

About 48 people were killed, during which 43 are Iranian pilgrims taking a rest in the restaurant after they crossed the border through the Mundhriyah border point in Diyala to visit the holy Shiite shrines in Iraq, a provincial police source said.

Up to 70 others were wounded, 50 of them Iranians, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The blast destroyed parts of the restaurant and badly damaged several civilian vehicles, he said.

It is the single deadliest attack since December last year when a suicide bombing killed about 50 people in a restaurant near the northern city of Kirkuk.

In Baghdad, a suicide bomber blew his explosive belt among a crowd of policemen distributing Iraqi Red Crescent food parcels to displaced families in Elwiyah area, part of Baghdad's central district of Karradah.