Baghdad restaurant bomb kills 20

[cal04]

An apparent suicide bomber has killed at least 20 people in a restaurant near the Green Zone in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, police sources say.

Five of those killed were policemen. At least 15 were wounded by the blast.

The bomber walked into the restaurant and set off his charge as people were having lunch, police said.

The attack comes as the US-led forces continue a major raid near the Syrian border. More than 1,000 people - mostly Iraqis - have been killed since April.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4108480.stm

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=760469§ion=news&src=rss/uk/worldNews

[Lindsay]

1. Yessir, we're turnin' the corner, all right.

Have I mentioned lately how much I detest the Bush regime for getting us into this disaster?

[Charlie Brown]

2. Suicide bomber kills 23 at Baghdad eatery

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/06/19/iraq.main/index.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Wearing a vest of explosives, a suicide bomber blew himself up and killed at least 23 people Sunday at a crowded Baghdad restaurant where Iraqi police and security forces were eating lunch, Iraqi police said.

Seven police officers were among the dead, and 36 people were hurt, police said. The blast wounded 16 police officers.

The Kabob restaurant is in central Baghdad near a checkpoint leading to the heavily fortified Green Zone, seat of Iraq's government and U.S. operations.

[Jacobin]

3. Okay. I think that was the "last throe"

After today, Iraqis will love the American occupiers and start building Wal-marts and McDonalds

[humus]

4. Happy Fodder's Day

[Chauga]

5. Death doesn't matter. Kissing up to the neocons is all that counts.

[quaoar]

6. The death toll is now 29

Chicago Tribune

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A suicide bomber walked into a crowded Baghdad restaurant Sunday afternoon and detonated an explosives-laden vest strapped to his body, killing at least 29, wounding 33 and breaking a relative lull in violence in the capital.

The attack targeting the Ibn Zanbour kebab house was the single deadliest attack in the capital in more than a month and punctuated a day of violence that left at least 47 dead throughout Baghdad. The blast came one day after U.S. and Iraqi commanders said a 30,000-man operation to weed out insurgents in the capital has been a success. Iraqi soldiers and police have been running roving checkpoints and periodic raids over the last four weeks throughout Baghdad in an attempt to stem violence there.

The restaurant is about one block from the main entrance to the Green Zone, the heavily fortified compound that houses many Iraqi government offices and the U.S. Embassy. It is in a row of restaurants and shops that are popular with Iraqi police officers, soldiers and government workers.

< snip >

Many passersby took pictures of the severed head of the presumed suicide bomber with camera phones. Iraqi soldiers soon became frustrated with the crowds and fired warning shots in the area to disperse the crowd.