Most recent Baghdad pet market bombing is solved, says admiral

[Guest guest]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2007:

 

 

Most recent Baghdad pet market bombing is solved, says admiral

 

BAGHDAD--U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Gregory Smith on November 24,

2007 told reporters that four members of an Iranian-backed Shiite

" special groups cell " had confessed to bombing the al-Ghazl pet

market in central Baghdad the preceding day.

The bombing, the fourth attack on the al-Ghazl pet market in

two years, killed at least 15 people and wounded 56, along with

killing and injuring countless birds, fish, and other animals.

The four suspects were captured overnight by U.S. and Iraqi

troops, Smith said. They were linked to the bombing by " subsequent

confessions, forensics, and other intelligence, " Smith explained.

Reported CNN, " Smith said the attackers wanted people to

believe that the bomb, packed with ball-bearings to maximize

casualties, was the work of al-Qaida in Iraq so that residents would

turn to Shiite militias for protection. "

As in a January 2007 al-Ghazl bombing, the bomb was

apparently hidden in a box of birds. Fifteen people were killed and

55 wounded in that attack.

A month earlier, militants launched a mortar shell into the

market, killing three and wounding 28, and in June 2006 four people

were killed and 50 wounded in a double bombing.

The al-Ghazl pet market has no particular sectarian

association with either the Shiite or Sunni factions who are fighting

for control of Baghdad, nor with the U.S. occupation of the city.

ANIMAL PEOPLE pointed out in March 2007 that the Ghazl attacks

appeared instead to indicate the involvement of non-Iraqis espousing

a strain of extreme Islamic fundamentalism most often seen in

Afghanistan and adjacent parts of Pakistan.

The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2003,

allied with al-Qaida, believe Islam forbids keeping birds in cages.

After capturing Kabul, the Afghan capital city, they forced the

release of all caged birds, including those who depended for

survival on human feeders.

 

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

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Fax: 360-579-2575

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Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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