Iraq: At least 22 wounded, 60 injured in election-related suicide bombing

On Saturday, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a campaign tent near Baghdad. At least 22 people were killed, and dozens injured. The tent belonged to Muthanna al-Jorani, a Sunni politician, who was not injured.

|
Haider Ala/Reuters
People walk near an electoral campaign sign for the upcoming provincial elections in the "Valley of Peace" cemetery in Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, April 1. The sign reads "My first province, A coalition of citizens". On Saturday, a suicide bomber attacked a campaign tent, killing at least 22 people.

At least 22 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a busy election campaign tent in the Iraqi city of Baquba on Saturday, police and medics said.

Another 60 people were wounded in the attack, which began with a hand grenade being thrown into the tent in Baquba, 40 miles northeast of the capital Baghdad.

Local elections are due to be held across Iraq later in April, but have already been delayed in two Sunni Muslim-majority provinces due to security concerns.

Candidates in Iraq often put up tents during campaigning as a venue to meet potential voters and explain their policies.

Muthanna al-Jorani, the Sunni candidate whose tent was targeted on Saturday, was not hurt in the attack.

At least 10 candidates have been killed in recent weeks, most of them from the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a secular Shi'ite politician.

A decade after U.S. and Western troops swept into Iraq to remove President Saddam HusseinIraq is still struggling with violence, sectarian tensions and political instability among its main Shi'ite, Sunni and ethnic Kurdish components.

Additional reporting by Raheem Salman; Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Alistair Lyon

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Iraq: At least 22 wounded, 60 injured in election-related suicide bombing
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0406/Iraq-At-least-22-wounded-60-injured-in-election-related-suicide-bombing
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe