Friday, February 1, 2008
Sick people: Al Qaeda use two 'Down's syndrome' women to blow up 73 people in Baghdad markets
Two women thought to suffer from Down's syndrome may have been unwilling suicide bombers in twin blasts that killed up to 73 people at pet markets in Baghdad today.
The first bomber instantly killed 45 people at a packed pet market in Baghdad in the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital in six months.
A separate attack shortly after killed 20 people and wounded scores at a bird market in southern Baghdad.
The death toll from the two bombings increased throughout the day to at least 73.
The chief Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad, Brigadier General Qassim al-Moussawi, claimed the female bombers apparently had Down's syndrome and the explosives were detonated by remote control, indicating the women may not have been willing attackers, according to his office.
Bolstering that claim, local police said the woman in the first attack sold cream in the morning at the market and was known to locals as "the crazy lady".
Police initially said the bomb at al-Ghazil market was hidden in a box of birds but determined it was a suicide attack after finding the woman's head...
One of the purposes of such attacks is to create despair of ever seeing an end to this horror, particularly through the media, particularly with the Western audience in the hope that we throw our hands up and walk away.
Yesterday, Iraqi government figures showed that 466 Iraqi civilians had died violently in January, more than 76 percent lower than the 1,971 killed in January 2007.
Al Qaeda is losing.
