Iraq election: How will voters respond to suicide bombings?
Just days ahead of Iraq's election, three powerful suicide bombings killed at least 33 people Wednesday in the Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.
A campaign poster of Dr. Maha al-Dori, of the Iraqi National Alliance, is seen in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday. Three powerful suicide bombings killed at least 33 people and wounded more than 50 Wednesday morning in the run-up to Sunday鈥檚 Iraq election.
Karim Kadim/AP
Baghdad
Three powerful suicide bombings killed at least 33 people and wounded more than 50 Wednesday in the restive Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, authorities said. Most of those killed and wounded were Iraqi police officers charged with securing the province's capital city ahead of national elections Sunday in Iraq.
The blasts occurred in quick succession, targeting police buildings in Baqouba, the capital of Diyala, where local authorities are still battling Sunni Muslim extremists. The insurgents use the area鈥檚 orchards and farmlands to hide out since U.S. and Iraqi offensives drove them from Baghdad and the west.
The attacks were the deadliest so far in the tense period ahead of Iraq鈥檚 parliamentary elections. Security forces imposed a full curfew on the city, clearing the streets even of pedestrians until further notice.
(Read more about rising sectarian tensions between Iraq鈥檚 Sunnis and Shiites here.)
鈥淭he timing is a message to prevent people from participating in elections, because it happened just a few days before the general voting and less than 24 hours before the special vote for security forces,鈥� said Maj. Ghalib Atiyah al Jubouri, a spokesman for Diyala's police. 鈥淲e feel people will challenge this message and reject it. 鈥� I鈥檓 sure they鈥檒l turn out for the elections in force.鈥�
Jubouri said the first bomber drove a car packed with explosives and detonated it outside the station of a police quick-reaction force at about 9 a.m. Five minutes later, Jubouri said, a second car driven by a suicide bomber exploded outside a police personnel office.
At about 10 a.m. local time, as the Diyala police chief was visiting the wounded in Baqouba General Hospital, a third bomber wearing a suicide vest blew himself up inside the hospital, Jubouri said. He said the bomber entered the compound in an ambulance, dressed in a police lieutenant鈥檚 uniform and pretending to be wounded. The police chief was unhurt in the blast.
鈥淯nfortunately, this happened because police uniforms are everywhere in the market,鈥� Jubouri said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a really big mistake, and it should be addressed.鈥�
Police said they had four suspects in custody. Top officials of Diyala鈥檚 police, the Iraqi army and intelligence services met for hours after the bombings, Jubouri said.
(McClatchy special correspondents Laith Hammoudi in Baghdad and an Iraqi reporter in Baqouba, who can't be named for security reasons, contributed to this article.)
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