Dozens of Iraqi Children Martyred at School Play Ground

Local Editor

In one of the most horrible crimes in Iraq, a suicide bomber martyred 14 children Sunday when he drove a truck packed with explosives into the playground of a primary school.
The attack took place at around 9.30 am in the village of Qabak, around 260 miles north-west of Baghdad.
An estimated 90 people were injured, the majority of whom were children, and the school's male head teacher was martyred in the blast.
Two policemen were also killed.

It is the latest in a relentless wave of killing in recent months - Iraq's deadliest outburst of violence since 2008.
The Turkomen village, largely populated by people descended from central Asia, has a population of just 200.
Abdul Aal al-Obeidi, mayor of nearby Tel Afar, said: "It's a tragedy. These innocent children were here to study."
An official in the town, who did not want to be named, said: "The fingerprints of al-Qaeda are clear on both attacks."

More than 6,000 people have been killed in violence across the country since January, according to monitoring groups, in one of Iraq's bloodiest periods for years.
Including attacks on Saturday there has been a total of 75 dead, including two television journalists shot on the job.
There was chaos in the hospital as medics rushed to care for the injured while bombs went off elsewhere.

In another Sunday attack, another suicide bomber - this time on foot - blew himself up as Shiite visitors walked through the neighborhood of Waziriyah in the north of the Iraqi capital.
At least 12 people were martyred and 23 wounded in that attack, according to police and hospital officials.
On Saturday, a suicide bombing in the Azamiyah killed 51.
Later, a bomb hidden in a car park exploded in eastern Baghdad al-Jadidah.
That blast killed six and wounded 12, according to police and hospital officials.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attacks.
In response, the United Nations envoy to Iraq urged political, religious and civic leaders to work together to stop the killing.

Envoy Nickolay Mladenov said: "It is their responsibility to ensure that pilgrims can practice their religious duties, that school children can attend their classes, that journalists can exercise their professional duties and that ordinary citizens can live a normal life in an environment free of fear and violence."

United Nations figures released last week showed that at least 979 people, most of them civilians, were killed last month alone.
At least 135 have died violently since the start of October, according to an Associated Press count.

Source: News agencies, Edited by website team