Car Bomb

BAGHDAD -- The death toll for Iraqi civilians and American forces rose inexorably yesterday as a car bomb ripped through crowds of worshipers in the Shiite shrine city of Karbala, killing at least 60 people, and U.S. military authorities announced the deaths of nine soldiers and Marines. U.S. deaths have surged in April. Details were sketchy of the Karbala attack, the second in the city this month. The car bomb apparently exploded at the checkpoint closest to a mosque that is one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines.

BAGHDAD -- Nine members of Iraq's security forces died yesterday in Baghdad and the northern part of the country that killed more than two dozen people. The attacks on civilians and security forces, including roadside bombings, suicide attacks and drive-by shootings, persist even though the U.S. military added nearly 30,000 troops in June. A car bomb exploded in the mostly Shiite neighborhood of Kadhimiya, killing at least 14 people and wounding 21, police said. Kadhimiya, home to one of Baghdad's holiest Shiite mosques, was struck June 6 by two simultaneous car bombs that killed at least seven people.

MOSCOW -- Islamic rebels in southern Russia reopened their war for independence yesterday by launching a new incursion into the republic of Dagestan hours after a car bomb exploded in a military housing block there, killing at least 22 people.Russian officials said the incursion and the car bomb were "links in the same chain," demonstrating that despite Russian declarations of victory two weeks ago, religious and political unrest continues unabated in the volatile Caucasus region.The incursion by several thousand rebel fighters from bases in separatist Chechnya was the second into Dagestan in a month.

SAN`A, Yemen -- A powerful car bomb that exploded early yesterday in a diplomatic quarter of Yemen's capital killed several people, sparked a fire that gutted a supermarket used by the city's foreign residents and severely damaged several diplomatic buildings, including the Turkish Embassy and the French ambassador's residence.Early indications were that no diplomats or foreign aid workers were among the dead and seriously wounded, although many appeared to have narrow escapes. A United Nations official said some staff members living in the area woke to find windows shattered and doors askew.

SUMMIT POINT, W.Va. - After ramming into a parked car, doing screeching 180-degree turns under attack and getting stuck in a place called "the kill zone" for more time than really seemed necessary, I was finally ready for my ultimate act of anti-terrorism.It was time to blow up a Chevy."It's great for tension release," screams my bomb instructor, a man who speaks at almost the same decibel level as the explosions he rigs and never lets his name get out for fear his own car will be trip-wired some day. "Huge blast - you're gonna love it."

Traffic ground to a halt for 2 1/2 hours in downtown Baltimore yesterday when police discovered what appeared to be a makeshift bomb inside a car parked on East Lombard Street, forcing them to shut down six square blocks north of the Inner Harbor.Police believe the crude device found in a black 1990 Nissan Sentra -- made of three containers of gasoline connected with a series of wicks -- was intended to burn the car, and not to explode on a downtown street.Investigators said one of the wicks was set on fire, causing damage to the car's interior, but the fire burned out on a fire-resistant child safety seat before it reached the gasoline.

WITH A SUICIDE bus bomb in Jerusalem and a car bomb in Askhelon, Hamas' undeclared six-month cease-fire has ended. As the terrorists intended, the twin tragedies had domino effects. A poll taken later showed the peace-making Yitzhak Peres only 3 points ahead of his hard-line rival, Benjamin Netanyahu, in the May 29 election -- down from a 15-point lead three days earlier. Hamas wants Mr. Netanyahu to win and the peace process to stop.Israel, which had just reopened the borders after shutting them for a bomb scare, closed them again.

One month before the Lexington Terrace high-rises are to be blown up to usher in a new era of public housing, police experts yesterday set off their own bombs in the vacant buildings to practice solving cases.A series of three explosions rocked the area in the 700 block of W. Saratoga St., giving teams of local and federal authorities a chance to practice their skills at detecting explosives and finding minuscule fragments that can solve cases."This is really a unique opportunity," said Officer Joseph A. Costantini, an investigator with the Baltimore Police Bomb Squad.

JERUSALEM -- In the Middle East, few knocks go unanswered, and Israel is expected to respond -- sooner or later -- to the bombings of Jewish targets in Buenos Aires and London.But who is responsible for the bomb attacks? Despite the quick-draw blame placed on Iran and "international Islamic terrorists" by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, analysts here acknowledge that there is little proof of culpability."There are no concrete details. . . . Israel still does not know for certain," said Ze'ev Schiff, a respected Israeli military affairs analyst who writes for the Hebrew daily Ha'aretz.

JERUSALEM -- On a day of national mourning for millions killed in the Holocaust a half-century ago, Israel felt the pain of a fresh shooting attack even before it had buried those killed in Wednesday's car bomb blast.A Palestinian opened fire with an automatic weapon at a bus stop near the Israeli town of Ashdod yesterday morning, killing one person and wounding four others.A statement from Hamas, an extremist Muslim group, vowed to "turn your Independence Day into hell" and promised four more violent attacks before the celebration of Israel's national holiday next Thursday.

Car bomb kills at least 27 in crowded Iraq market BAGHDAD - A car bomb exploded in a crowded outdoor market in the northern city of Kirkuk on Tuesday, killing at least 27 people, police said, a deadly reminder of the challenges facing the Iraqi government even as it celebrated the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from cities. The bombing marred what had otherwise been a festive day as Iraqis commemorated the newly declared National Sovereignty Day. It also came hours after four U.S. soldiers were killed in combat Monday in Baghdad.

KABUL, Afghanistan - The car bomb that killed more than 40 people outside the Indian Embassy here yesterday stoked regional tensions and threatened to erode already diminishing confidence in the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Afghanistan's Interior Ministry indirectly blamed Pakistan for the suicide attack, the deadliest in Kabul since the fall of the Taliban movement in 2001. Nearly 150 people were injured in the bombing, an audacious strike in what previously had been considered a well-secured area of the Afghan capital.

BAGHDAD -- A car bomb killed at least six people in the central Iraqi city of Ramadi yesterday, shattering the calm of an area that in recent months had been considered one of the safest in the country. Ramadi police officials said the bomb exploded near the city's courthouse in the late morning after a suicide bomber drove to the site. There were conflicting reports of the number of dead, but women, children and at least one police officer were said to be among the fatalities. The U.S. military had said four people died, including the bomber.

BAGHDAD -- Gunmen shot and killed a prominent aide to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, police said yesterday, and a car bomb killed 15 people after the driver sped past a checkpoint toward a crowded Baghdad marketplace. Police ordered the driver to stop as he drove past a roadblock in the Dakhil neighborhood on the capital's east side. Officers shot at the car before it could reach the market, triggering an explosion. "We heard gunshots from the police station and then we saw a big explosion," said Mohammed Abul Khaleq, 22, who was at a kiosk selling cell-phone accessories.

BAGHDAD -- A car bomb killed 11 people yesterday in a Kurdish district of the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, police said, and a U.S. military helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing south of Baghdad. Meanwhile, the Security Council voted unanimously yesterday to expand the United Nations' presence in Iraq to help tackle political, economic and humanitarian problems that have eluded the U.S., British and Iraqi governments. The resolution directs the U.N. to help reconcile rival factions and to mediate territorial disputes, such as in the northern Kurdish territory, where there is a pending referendum on the future of oil-rich Kirkuk.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Eighteen people died when a car bomb blew up outside a photo shop here as members of a wedding party waited last night for the newlyweds to get their pictures taken. The blast ripped through a street in Abu Dsheir, a Shiite district that adjoins the mainly Sunni neighborhood of Dora in southern Baghdad, as family and friends celebrated the wedding. Police said most of the 18 dead and 29 wounded were women and children who had been waiting for the bride and groom outside a picture studio near a restaurant.

BAGHDAD -- Nine members of Iraq's security forces died yesterday in Baghdad and the northern part of the country that killed more than two dozen people. The attacks on civilians and security forces, including roadside bombings, suicide attacks and drive-by shootings, persist even though the U.S. military added nearly 30,000 troops in June. A car bomb exploded in the mostly Shiite neighborhood of Kadhimiya, killing at least 14 people and wounding 21, police said. Kadhimiya, home to one of Baghdad's holiest Shiite mosques, was struck June 6 by two simultaneous car bombs that killed at least seven people.

A cynic might wonder whether Flashpoint, an hour-long documentary about the devastating effects of a single car bomb in Iraq on Memorial Day last year, was an attempt by CBS News to generate ratings based on sympathy for its correspondent, Kimberly Dozier, who was badly injured in the attack. Not so. On TV Flashpoint airs at 10 tonight on WJZ (Channel 13).

Baghdad -- A car bomb ripped through a crowded market in a Shiite-dominated neighborhood yesterday, killing 25 people, injuring 60 and dealing another blow to U.S. and Iraqi efforts to quash sectarian bloodshed in the Iraqi capital. The victims were among 75 people reported killed yesterday, including 33 apparent victims of sectarian death squads whose unidentified bodies were recovered in Baghdad. Iraqi legislators, meanwhile, missed a deadline to propose constitutional revisions promised to the embittered Sunni Arab minority leading the insurgency against Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated government and U.S.-led forces in Iraq.

BAGHDAD -- The death toll for Iraqi civilians and American forces rose inexorably yesterday as a car bomb ripped through crowds of worshipers in the Shiite shrine city of Karbala, killing at least 60 people, and U.S. military authorities announced the deaths of nine soldiers and Marines. U.S. deaths have surged in April. Details were sketchy of the Karbala attack, the second in the city this month. The car bomb apparently exploded at the checkpoint closest to a mosque that is one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines.