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Over 200 martyred, hurt as deadly blasts hit Najaf, Karbala

By: Ismail Zabeeh

HOLY CITY OF NAJAF, Iraq: Powerful car bombs on Sunday rocked Iraq's two holiest cities – Holy Najaf and Holy Karbala - within a span of two hours leaving at least 65 people martyred and more than 140 wounded, according to officials at Najaf’s Al-Hakim hospital and Karbala’s Al-Hussein hospital.

According to officials at least 50 people were martyred and over 90 wounded when a bomb went off at 3:15 pm in Holy Najaf as large number of believers was gathered to attend funeral prayer of a tribal chief at Banatol Hasan Street near the Imam Ali (p) Mausoleum, one of the most sacred spots. The street is at a distance of about 100 meters from the Haideri shrine.

The attack came after a car bombing in Holy Karbala in which more than 15 people including a six-month infant were martyred and 50 injured, said a doctor at Karbala general hospital.

Ambulances were racing to the scene of the car bombings.

Witnesses to the Karbala attack, which occurred just 200 meters from Al-Abbas (p) holy Shrine, said the car tried to enter a nearby police recruiting centre but as the street was sealed off it instead ploughed into a bus station before exploding in a ball of fire.

A cameraman for Reuters who filmed the immediate aftermath of the attack said the ground around the city's open air bus station was littered with dead and wounded. Flames licked at the burned-out carcasses of vehicles nearly an hour afterwards.

Then at 4:30, another car bomb exploded near Sayf Sa’ad area in Holy Karbala.

The attacks came four days after a bombing claimed the lives of 10 people and wounded over 40 others near Karbala's Imam Hussein (p) mausoleum, the burial ground of the holy prophet Muhammad (p)'s grandson.

The deadly attacks occurred in a seemingly coordinated attempt to cause as much bloodshed as possible before the upcoming elections.

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