WaPo : Another Visitation On Baghdad's Death Street

Another Visitation On Baghdad's Death Street

By Amit R. Paley | Washington Post Foreign Service | October 17, 2007

BAGHDAD, Oct. 16 -- They call it Death Street.

Once a tranquil commercial thoroughfare in central Baghdad, Sadoun Street earned the macabre sobriquet over the past two years because of bombings that have killed and maimed dozens of Iraqis.

Death returned to the street Tuesday morning when a parked car filled with explosives was detonated by remote control as a police car drove past. Four policemen and two civilians were killed, and 29 people were injured, an Interior Ministry official said.

It was the final day of Eid al-Fitr, a festival that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Abbas, who works at a travel company in the area, said he was walking a woman to her car when the blast threw him into the air.

"She started screaming because she thought I was dead," said Abbas, who asked that his last name not be printed. Wounds to his head and back were not life-threatening.

Violence across Iraq on Tuesday left more than 40 Iraqis dead, according to the Interior Ministry official. In one of the deadliest attacks, a suicide bomber driving a truck killed at least five people and injured 24 when he struck a police station in the northern city of Mosul.

On Sadoun Street, lined with shops and hotels, business owners began to sweep away the broken glass and debris caused by the blast.

"Thanks be to God that this was a holiday. Otherwise, the number of casualties would be much bigger," Abbas said. "But it's scary. How can you work under such conditions, such violence?"

As he spoke, the destroyed police car smoldered nearby. Still visible, despite the bomb, was the Iraqi flag painted on the side of the vehicle.

Special correspondent Naseer Nouri and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.