SUICIDE BOMBERS KILL AT LEAST 46 IN IRAQ
Baku, July 19 (AZERTAC). Two separate explosions, targeting members of the Sunni Muslim Sahwa (Awakening) movement in Iraq have left dozens of casualties. The Sahwa, or Sons of Iraq, helped U.S. forces put down an al-Qaida led insurrection during the worst days of sectarian strife in Iraq.
Iraqi officials say two suicide bombings in separate parts of the country have killed about four-dozen people and wounded many others. Most of the casualties belong to the government-backed Sunni Muslim militia that helped put a lid on a growing civil war in 2006 and 2007.
Baghdad security chief Qassem Mohammed Atta indicated a suicide bomber struck a checkpoint near a military base southwest of Baghdad. Members of the Sunni Sahwa militia had been lined up outside the base to receive their paychecks.
The Associated Press reported the men had come to the base for five days in row, hoping to be paid, and that security around the base was lax. Sahwa members complained that government forces were no longer searching people lined up in front of the base.
Another suicide bomber attacked a Sahwa militia facility in the town of Qaim, near the Syrian border. Sahwa fighters traded fire with the assailant, who blew himself up after being surrounded. Three militiamen were reportedly killed and six wounded in the blast.
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