75 die in separate suicide blasts in Baghdad

Baghdad: Two suicide bombers wearing vests stuffed with explosives blew themselves up in separate attacks in Iraq on Thursday, killing 75 people, including many Iranian pilgrims, in the bloodiest day for more than a year.

The blasts occurred as apprehension grows in Iraq ahead of a pullout by US troops from city centres in June, and after warnings from officials that insurgent groups may try to take advantage of that to launch attacks.

A national election due at the end of the year also threatens to stir a resurgence in violence just as the bloodshed of the past six years appeared to be receding.

Shortly after the two attacks, the authorities in Baghdad said they had arrested the purported leader of an Al Qaida-affiliated insurgent group, Abu Omar Al Baghdadi. His arrest, which has been reported before, could not be confirmed.

One of the attacks occurred near Muqdadiya, 80 km northeast of Baghdad, in the volatile province of Diyala. The suicide bomber appeared to have targeted a group of Iranian pilgrims in a crowded roadside restaurant at lunchtime.

All but two of the 47 dead were Iranians visiting Shiite religious sites in Iraq, police said. Sixty-seven people were wounded. It was the single deadliest attack since 50 people were killed by a suicide bomber near the northern city of Kirkuk on December 11, 2008.

The second blast, in central Baghdad, took place as a group of Iraqi national police were distributing relief supplies to families driven from their homes during the sectarian slaughter and insurgency unleashed by the 2003 US-led invasion.

Twenty-eight people died and 50 were wounded, police said. At least five children were among the dead, they added.

Red Crescent food parcels and shattered packets of chocolate biscuits were strewn in the blood pooled on the pavement after the attack, while a woman dressed in a black abaya robe wailed and beat her thighs in anguish.

"It is a suicide bomber. Obviously that has the fingerprints of Al Qaida," said Baghdad security spokesman Major-General Qassim Moussawi.

Violence across Iraq has fallen sharply over the past year, but insurgents still carry out attacks. Suicide bombings are often associated with Al Qaida.

A suicide bomber on Wednesday killed at least five people and wounded 15 inside a mosque in central Iraq, and on Monday, a suicide bomber in a police uniform killed four policemen in Diyala. Eight US soldiers were wounded.