22 January 2007 Baghdad bombings

2007 terrorist attack in Baghdad, Iraq

22 January 2007 Baghdad bombings
Part of the Iraqi civil war
LocationBab Al-Sharqi market of Baghdad, Iraq
Date22 January 2007
12:00 – 17:00 (UTC+3)
TargetShiite marketplace
Attack type
Car bombs
Deaths88
Injured160
PerpetratorsUnknown: legal proceedings have not yet taken place.
MotiveAnti-Shi'ism
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List of bombings during the Iraq War
indicates attacks resulting in over 100 deaths
§ indicates the deadliest attack in the Iraq War
This list only includes major attacks.
2003
1st Baghdad
2nd Baghdad
Najaf
3rd Baghdad
1st Nasiriyah
1st Karbala
2004
1st Erbil
Ashoura
1st Basra
1st Mosul
4th Baghdad
5th Baghdad
Karbala & Najaf
1st Baqubah
Kufa
Marez
2005
Suwaira bombing
1st Al Hillah
2nd Erbil
Musayyib
6th Baghdad
7th Baghdad
1st Balad
Khanaqin
2006
Karbala-Ramadi
1st Samarra
8th Baghdad
9th Baghdad
10th Baghdad
2007
11th Baghdad
12th Baghdad
13th Baghdad
14th Baghdad
15th Baghdad
2nd Al Hillah
1st Tal Afar
16th Baghdad
17th Baghdad
2nd & 3rd Karbala
2nd Mosul
18th Baghdad
Makhmour
Abu Sayda
2nd Samarra
19th Baghdad
Amirli
1st Kirkuk
20th Baghdad
21st Baghdad
§ Qahtaniya
Amarah
2008
22nd Baghdad
2nd Balad
23rd Baghdad
4th Karbala
24th Baghdad
Karmah
2nd Baqubah
Dujail
Balad Ruz
2009
25th Baghdad
26th Baghdad
Baghdad-Muqdadiyah
Taza
27th Baghdad
2nd Kirkuk
2nd Tal Afar
28th Baghdad
29th Baghdad
30th Baghdad
2010
31st Baghdad
32nd Baghdad
3rd Baqubah
33rd Baghdad
34th Baghdad
35th Baghdad
1st Pan-Iraq
36th Baghdad
37th Baghdad
2nd Pan-Iraq
38th Baghdad
39th Baghdad
40th Baghdad
2011
41st Baghdad
3rd Pan-Iraq
Karbala-Baghdad
42nd Baghdad
Tikrit
3rd Al Hillah
3rd Samarra
Al Diwaniyah
Taji
4th Pan-Iraq
43rd Baghdad
4th Karbala
44th Baghdad
2nd Basra
45th Baghdad

The 22 January 2007 Baghdad bombings was a terrorist attack that occurred when two powerful car bombs ripped through the Bab Al-Sharqi market in central Baghdad, killing at least 88 people and wounding 160 others in one of the bloodiest days since the US invasion of Iraq.[1] The attack occurred two days after the start of the 10-day Shiite mourning period leading up to Ashura. It also coincided with the arrival of 3,200 additional troops into Baghdad as part of the Iraq War troop surge of 2007.[1]

Overview

The attack took place on a Monday, after a weekend in which 27 American soldiers were killed in Iraq. The blasts at the Baghdad market were aimed at a Shiite area and seemed timed to inflict maximum damage, occurring at noon local time, which is one of the busiest times of the day[2]

Police officials said the blasts were so large that each of the cars carried more than 200 pounds of explosives. The explosions could be heard from the eastern banks of the nearby Tigris River. Fires from the explosion engulfed at least a dozen cars, creating clouds of smoke large enough that they drifted over the Green Zone, about half a mile away.

The New York Times reported that:

The blasts left so many bodies that they had to be loaded on wooden carts stacked one upon the other, according to witnesses. Others were simply blown to pieces.

— Marc Santora, New York Times

Similar attacks by Sunni Arab insurgents targeting Shia civilians often provoked reprisals.[2] According to the Iraq Body Count project, this period of intense sectarian violence resulted in over 150,000 documented civilian deaths.[3]

Gun battles

The bombing was followed by prolonged gun battles. The fighting could be heard across the city, although officials did not release any casualty figures from the ensuing skirmishes. At the site of the car bombings, Iraqi Army troops spotted a man on a nearby rooftop shortly after the attack, filming the carnage. According to an Iraqi Army official, the man was killed by gunfire while attempting to escape over the rooftops. The official said the man was an Egyptian and was filming the attack to use as propaganda for the Sunni insurgents.

Condemnation

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, whose government has proven incapable of ending the bloodshed, condemned the attack. He blamed the car bombs on followers of Saddam Hussein. At least 70 people were killed in a double bombing outside a Baghdad University during the previous week, an attack Maliki also blamed on Saddam's supporters. A UN envoy said Iraq was sliding "into the abyss of sectarianism" and urged Iraqi political and religious leaders to halt the violence.

Other attacks

In addition to the market attacks, at least 15 people were killed and another 39 wounded in coordinated bomb and mortar attacks in the Shiite town of Khalis. Later that same day, a Sunni mosque in the Dura section of Baghdad was blown up; there were no reports of casualties and residents said the attack was likely retribution for the bombing of a Shiite mosque in the same neighborhood during the previous week. Police confirmed that they had found 29 unidentified bodies with gunshot wounds; altogether, more than 130 people were killed in and around the capital.

References

  1. ^ a b "Scores killed in Iraq bloodshed". 22 January 2007. Archived from the original on 7 October 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b Santora, Marc (23 January 2007). "2 Car Bombs Kill Scores at Packed Market in Baghdad". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  3. ^ "Iraq Body Count". www.iraqbodycount.org. Archived from the original on 27 February 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2022.

External links