Ten killed, 40 wounded in Baghdad blast: PM
15/7/2004 9:08
At least 10 Iraqis were killed and 40 others wounded on Wednesday
morning in a suspected car bomb explosion near the entrance to the so-called the
Green Zone in central Baghdad, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi told reporters at the
scene.
Allawi made the confirmation to reporters while visiting the scene of
the blast. He told the reporters that three of the dead were Iraqi National
Guardsmen and the remainder were civilians.
"Forty people were wounded
according to preliminary reports, some of them badly. Three national guard
officers have been killed and seven civilians. These people were in Baghdad to
find work and money," Allawi said.
He blamed "criminals" for Wednesday's car
bombing and said it may have been an act of revenge for police raids that netted
hundreds of suspected criminals.
"This is a flagrant aggression against the
Iraqi people. We will bring these criminals to justice," he said.
"We think
this is a response to recent arrests in the last couple of days," Allawi said,
referring to a police operation in the capital on Monday and Tuesday that netted
more than 525 suspected criminals.
"We have caught some prominent criminals.
They are under investigation. They are cooperating and we extracted important
information (on criminal activities) out of them.
One of the arrested poeple,
Allawi added, was "non-Iraqi" and two of them were extremists.
Iraq's
insurgency is believed to mix criminals, loyalists to toppled Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussein, foreign fighters, Islamists and tribal elements.
US and Iraqi
officials have said that criminals are hired out by insurgents for attacks
against the new Iraqi government and US forces.
Xinhua
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