Baghdad, December 07: Six children were among eight people killed at a Baghdad school in what the Iraqi security forces said was an ammunition blast on Monday, among a total of 16 people killed in and around the capital.
Just north of Baghdad, six anti-Qaeda militiamen were gunned down in broad daylight and the wife of a militia commander was killed when their home was bombed.
Two hospitals in the Baghdad Shiite neighbourhood of Sadr City said eight people were killed in the school blast, including six pupils from the Abaa Dhar primary school for boys.
Twenty-five pupils and three teachers were among 41 people wounded. A police officer confirmed the casualty toll, speaking on condition of anonymity.
An Iraqi security forces spokesman said the cause of the blast was not a bomb but the accidental detonation of a cache of explosives stored within school grounds.
“The explosion happened inside the school while the school principal was burning garbage,” said Baghdad operations command spokesman Major General Qassim Atta.
“Underneath the garbage was a cache of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) hidden underground by special groups.”
Special groups is the term given by US commanders to Shiite militias they say are armed and trained by Iran.
–PTI