Three Hundred Killed in Series of Terrorized Bombings in Iraq

Three Hundred Killed in Series of Terrorized Bombings in Iraq. April. 21, 2004 20:42. by Hye-Yoon Park parkhyey@donga.com.

On April 21, four series of bombing explosions ripped through the southern Iraqi cities of Basra and Zubair, killing 61 and injuring 240. This is the first large-scale terrorist bombing explosion in the southern region where it has been fairly peaceful.

Foreign sources including the Associated Press (AP) reported that three near simultaneous blasts targeted police stations at 7 a.m. in Basra, killing at least 45 people and injuring more than 200. Some 10 children were among the dead. The three police stations in Basra were heavily damaged due to the explosion.

AFP announced that at around 9 a.m., at least 10 people were killed, and tens of people were wounded as another explosion ripped through the police academy in the Basra suburb of Zubair.

At one station in the Saudia district of Basra, two school buses that were passing that police station at the time of the attack suffered enormous damages. An AP reporter who was at the scene stated that one school bus was packed with students.

There was a hole six feet deep and nine feet wide in front of the Saudia station. British military spokesman Jonathan Arnold stated that no causalities of the allied forces have yet been reported.

The Basra attack came a day after 22 people were killed and about 100 others injured in a mortar attack on a U.S.-run prison west of Baghdad