15 killed, 65 wounded in Baghdad suicide bombing
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E-mail Xinhua, June 4, 2012
The death toll from a suicide car bomb attack near the Shiite endowment office in Baghdad on Monday rose to 15 and 65 people were wounded, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.
"The latest report said that 15 people were killed and 65 wounded by the suicide car bombing in central Baghdad," the source said on condition of anonymity.
The attack occurred at about 10:45 a.m. (0745 GMT) when a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into the entrance of the Shiite endowment office in Bab al-Mu'dham district, the source said.
The powerful blast destroyed part of the office building and left many cars charred and badly destroyed at the scene, the source said.
Xinhua correspondent in central Baghdad heard a powerful explosion and saw a plume of black smoke rise above the area.
Iraqi security forces sealed off downtown Baghdad and ambulances, police and civilian cars evacuated the casualties to nearby medical complex in the district, the source added.
The Shiite endowment office is an independent body affiliated to the government and is responsible for running the Shiite mosques and their religious properties.
The blast came amid high-running tensions between the Shiite and Sunni communities after the Shiite office sought to take over management of many Sunni mosques and properties, including the al- Askari shrine in Samarra, 110 km north of Baghdad, which contains the tombs of Ali al-Hadi, and Hassan al-Askari, the 10th and 11th of the Shiite's 12 most revered Imams.
Sunnis in Samarra also argue that the two Imams are their ancestors and they were running the shrine over hundreds of years.
Violence and sporadic high-profile bomb attacks are still common in the Iraqi cities despite the dramatic decrease in violence since its peak in 2006 and 2007 when the country was engulfed in sectarian killings.
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