A little thing called genocide (by the way, where's Google and the UN on this humanitarian disaster?)

Nearly 300 killed in day's Iraq violence

Hussam Ali and Leila Fadel

KARBALA, Iraq - Two months into the U.S.-led Baghdad Security Plan, at least 289 people were killed and injured across Iraq on Saturday, including 36 dead in a car bomb attack in the holy Shiite city of Karbala. The carnage of a crowd teeming with women and children set off an angry mob of hundreds against the governor and police.
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The morning bombing outside a bus station and marketplace ripped through vendor stands near a Shiite shrine where a grandson of the prophet Mohammed is buried.

Bodies littered the street and body parts were found as far as 160 yards from the site of the explosion. Three buses of passengers were charred and storefronts lay in shambles.

At least 167 people were injured in the bombing, but the death toll was expected to increase because of still-unidentified bodies and serious injuries, said Saleem Kadhim, spokesman for the Karbala health directorate.

As police and ambulances approached to carry away victims, angry residents shot at them, witnesses said. The police responded, firing bullets into the air to dissipate the angry crowd. As the bullets rained down, a child and elderly man were killed, witnesses said.

A man screamed, "They added new victims and don't care about our losses. It's enough."

Aqeel al Khazaali, the governor of Karbala, blamed the Baghdad Security Plan for the attack inside the relatively safe city. Karbala is about 50 miles south of Baghdad.

"The Baghdad crackdown and the tribes in Ramadi are forcing the terrorists to leave their cities," he said. "Now Karbala is under fire from terrorists, and the central government has to take the necessary steps to help us to protect the holy city."

In a phone interview Thafir al Ani, a Sunni parliament member, said the security plan had little hope of success if it continued as a military force without a political solution. He said insurgents had learned to hit more high-profile places such as bridges and government buildings.

"Gunmen and terrorist groups managed to adapt themselves and change their strategies," Thafir al Ani said.

Two American helicopters crashed after an apparent collision today north of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding five others, the U.S. military said. The crash occurred southwest of Taji, 12 miles north of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.

"An investigation will be conducted to determine the cause of the incident," the statement said.

Original article posted here.