Baghdad, January 26: A suicide attacker Tuesday blew up his vehicle as he raced it at Iraq’s forensics headquarters in central Baghdad, killing 18 people, injuring 80 and destroying the building, officials said.
The attack came a day after three huge minibus bombs targeting hotels killed dozens in the Iraqi capital and amid heightened tension following the banning of Sunni figures from taking part in the March 7 vote, the second parliamentary ballot since the 2003 US-led invasion.
An interior ministry official put the toll at 18 dead — five policemen and 13 civilians.
Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad Major General Qassim Atta said the attack targeted the forensics institute in the central neighbourhood of Karrada, which had been bombed twice before.
“At 10.45 am a suicide bomber raced his vehicle towards the institute” and blew it up, said Atta.
An interior ministry official said the blast had wrecked the institute.
“The building collapsed soon after the explosion. Dozens of people usually work in the (forensics) institute,” he added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The blast came a day after three huge and apparently co-ordinated minibus bombs targeted hotels in Baghdad, killing at least 36 people and wounding 71.
The election is seen as a crucial step towards consolidating Iraq’s democracy and securing a complete US military exit by the end of 2011, as planned.
Monday’s attacks differed from recent high-profile bombings in Baghdad in that they targeted hotels, one of the capital’s few remaining symbols of tourism, rather than government buildings.
Nearly 400 people were killed and more than 1,000 were wounded last year in co-ordinated vehicle bombings at government buildings, including the ministries of finance, foreign affairs and justice in August, October and December.
The US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 is viewed by critics as an ‘act of aggression’ that violated international law.
Subsequent US occupation policies caused the country to descend into almost total chaos, bordering on civil war.
An estimated 1.3 million Iraqis have been killed in Iraq as a direct result of the invasion, while millions more have fled the country.
–Agencies