Suicide bomber kills 30 at Baghdad funeral
Middle East Desk Report

BAGHDAD—A suicide bomber killed at least 30 people and wounded 38 at a funeral in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday and the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital for months cast a pall over New Year celebrations.
Baghdadis had greeted 2008 at family gatherings and parties impossible just months ago when travel across the capital at night was too dangerous. At the stroke of midnight celebratory gunfire and fireworks painted the sky over Baghdad.
Police said the suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest among mourners attending a funeral for a man killed in a bomb explosion three days ago. It was the deadliest attack in the capital since September and one of the worst anywhere in Iraq for months. Figures show violence in Iraq is still declining although U.S. commanders say Sunni Arab militants remain determined to carry out “spectacular” attacks aimed at killing large numbers of civilians.
Data compiled by the interior, health and defense ministries showed 481 civilians died violently in Iraq in December. This is a 75 percent drop from the 1,930 who were killed in December 2006 when a wave of sectarian bloodshed threatened civil war. The decline in violence has been attributed to a U.S. decision to send 30,000 more troops to Iraq in 2007, a decision by Sunni Arab tribes to turn against al Qaeda and a ceasefire declared by Shi’ite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr.
But U.S. figures show suicide bombings have increased since falling to a low in October. Eleven people were killed in a suicide bombing on New Year’s Eve morning and at least 33 in two strikes on Christmas Day, December 25. The generally safer streets allowed Iraqis to party past midnight at the capital’s landmark Sheraton and Palestine hotels.
In Palestine Street, a popular shopping area in eastern Baghdad, young men danced in the street, banged drums and filmed each other on their mobile phones. In Karrada, a downtown Baghdad shopping neighborhood, young people came out with fireworks to celebrate the New Year, laughing and spraying each other with aerosol foam. “The celebrations last year were unsafe, but this year they are beautiful. I am optimistic that the security plan is succeeding and the situation will get better,” said Um Ali, one of the revelers in Palestine Street. However, the celebrations in Baghdad were largely confined to districts on the safer, eastern bank of the Tigris River that splits the capital in two.
A suicide attacker detonated an explosives-rigged vest at a Shiite funeral in Baghdad, killing 30 people gathered to mourn the death of an Iraqi army officer killed in a car bombing, police and ambulance officials said. The afternoon explosion took place in Baghdad’s eastern Zayouna neighborhood, a mixed Shiite and Sunni district, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release details of the attack.
The funeral was for Nabil Hussein Jassim, a retired lieutenant colonel killed in a car bombing in downtown Baghdad’s Tayaran Square. That blast left at least 14 people dead. In Jalula, a city about 80 miles north of Baghdad, the bodies of a Sunni policeman and four of his relatives were found hours after gunman abducted them from their home, authorities said.
The abductions occurred in Diyala province, where al-Qaida in Iraq retains a presence and violence has persisted despite falling elsewhere. Hours later in the same province, a Shiite man and his 16-year-old son where killed in a drive-by shooting as they stood outside their home, police said. Late Monday, Iraq’s government released statistics on the number of civilians and members of security forces it said were killed in 2007.
According to the health, defense and interior ministries, 16,232 civilians, 432 soldiers and about 1,300 policeman died in 2007. The year before, the ministries said that 12,371 civilians, 603 soldiers and 1,224 policeman were killed.—Agencies