Truck bombing at revered Baghdad shrine kills 18

BAGHDAD: A truck bomb exploded outside one of Baghdad's most revered Sunni shrines on Monday, killing at least 18 people and damaging the old outer walls on a day in which at least 30 people were killed in Iraq.   

The powerful blast, which sent a massive pillar of black smoke into the sky above downtown Baghdad, came as US and Iranian representatives were meeting for landmark talks on Iraqi security less than a kilometre away.   

"I came into the street after the explosion near the mosque, and I found five charred bodies myself, including a pregnant woman," said witness Saed Mohammed, as fire engines arrived to battle the flames.   

Security sources said 18 people were killed and another 28 wounded in the blast in the Sinak district, revising downwards an earlier toll.   

More than 20 vehicles caught fire up and down the street and the Qadiriya shrine itself was damaged, with the base of a minaret partly destroyed.   

Several nearby houses collapsed, including one belonging to Salim Mustafa, who was outside at the time.

"My house was completely destroyed. Thank God that my children and I were away. Otherwise we would have been killed."   

Others were not so lucky.   

"The blast was horrible and we were very near. I saw people burning inside vehicles and the traffic police were asking for help," said Mustafa Ali, who had shards of glass embedded in his arms.   

Mohammed Hussein blamed the government and its beleaguered security forces.

"This shows the weakness of the government in performing its obligations. It needs to withdraw and turn over responsibility to people who can handle it."   

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki condemned the blast in a statement from his office.   

"Targeting the Qadiriya shrine through this criminal act is yet more evidence that these terrorists have no religious or moral sentiment to deter them from committing such brutal crimes," the statement said.   

Abdel Qadir Gilani founded the Qadiri order of Sufi Islam, a tradition of  religious mysticism, and was buried in the Baghdad shrine in 1166.   

The shrine has long attracted Sunni pilgrims from across the Muslim world and has traditionally been revered by both Sunni and Shiite Muslims living in the neighbourhood around it.   

The imam of the mosque, Mohammed al-Issawi, blamed terrorists. "I feel sorry for myself and for all Iraqis. We must be patient in order not to give a opportunity to our enemies," he told state television.   

The spokesman for Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement also condemned the attack, comparing it to the February 2006 destruction of a Shiite shrine north of Baghdad that unleashed a flood of sectarian killings.   

"The takfiris (Sunni extremists) failed in last year's attempt to provoke sectarian strife so they tried again today," said Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi. "We call on everyone to stand against these actions."   

In central Baghdad, meanwhile, security forces foiled a brazen kidnapping attempt when gunmen hijacked a minibus filled with commuters and absconded with it to the Fadhel neighbourhood.   

Defence ministry spokesman Brigadier Qassim Atta said security forces swooped down on the gang and rescued everyone without a single casualty.   

Police officials had previously said at least three officers were killed in the operation in Fadhel, a dangerous neighbourhood that frequently sees clashes between Sunni and Shiite gunmen.   

Elsewhere around Baghdad 12 bodies were found, mostly in the restive southern area of Dura, and five people were killed, including a female student shot by a sniper outside Mustansiriyah University.   

A power plant worker was shot outside his home in the central holy city of Karbala.   

In Kirkuk, a series of attacks killed two people and wounded several, including three soldiers charged with guarding oil pipelines in the petroleum-rich region.   

In Mosul, two policemen were murdered and left behind in a booby-trapped car that was rigged to explode when their colleagues arrived at the scene, killing two more officers.