Peacemaking Event is Attacked in Iraq

[Hissyspit]

Source: Washington Post

Peacemaking Event Is Attacked in Iraq

Blast Mars Tribal Leader's Gathering

By Anthony Shadid and Saad Sarhan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, January 3, 2009; Page A09

BAGHDAD, Jan. 2 -- A suicide bomber sneaked through the back door of a crowded hall where guests had gathered Friday for a reconciliation lunch at the invitation of a tribal leader, killing as many as 32 people and wounding dozens more in the worst attack in Iraq in weeks.

Iraqi officials said the assailant, a relative of the host, was a familiar presence around the house, making it easier for him to pass unsearched through an entrance usually reserved for women. Once inside the hall in the conservative town of Yusufiyah, about 12 miles south of Baghdad, he detonated explosives that he had strapped around his waist, said Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, a spokesman for the Iraqi Defense Ministry.

Capt. Muthanna Ahmed, a spokesman for the provincial police, said 32 people were killed and 70 wounded. But in the confused aftermath of the attack, there were discrepancies in the toll. Atta said 23 people were killed and 42 were wounded. The U.S. military said initial reports, based on local sources, put the toll at 23 killed and 32 wounded.

The attack was the worst in Iraq since a suicide bomber killed 57 people at a Dec. 11 meeting of Arab and Kurdish leaders who had gathered to discuss ways to reduce tensions in the contested northern city of Kirkuk. A car bombing in Baghdad last Saturday killed at least 22 people.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/02/AR2009010200692.html?hpid=moreheadlines

[LeftishBrit]

1. This is horrible.

RIP peacemakers. One day people like you will prevail.