Suicide attacks kill 120 in a day

Coming a day after 58 people died in a wave of bombings and shootings, the latest bloodshed appeared certain to ratchet up tension between Iraq’s Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims.

Karbala is one of Shi’ite Islam’s holiest cities while Ramadi is a Sunni Arab stronghold and a hotbed of the insurgency. The violence shattered hopes the country might start 2006 on a more peaceful footing, allowing for a swift reduction in US troop levels.

The US death toll was the highest since the December 15 election.

Violence has killed more than 240 people and wounded more than 280 in the five days since the New Year started, a death toll comparable with some of the nation’s bloodiest weeks since the US-led invasion in March 2003.

“These groups of dark terror will not succeed through these cowardly acts in dissuading Iraqis in their bid to form a government of national unity,” President Jalal Talabani said.

The Karbala bomber detonated an explosive belt laced with ballbearings and a grenade, killing 50 and wounding 138 at a market within sight of the golden dome of the Imam Hussein shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shi’ite Islam.

Television pictures showed pools of blood in the street, which was littered with debris. Passers-by loaded the wounded into the backs of cars and vans, and one black-clad woman stood crying while clutching her dead or wounded baby to her chest.

“The bomb was caused by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt, walking among people,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Razak al-Taee of the Iraqi police.

“Explosives experts found wires, ballbearings and a grenade used in the explosion,” he told al-Iraqiya state television.

On Wednesday, a car bomb wounded three people in the first attack of its kind in Karbala since December 2004.