Almost 200 die in one of Baghdad's bloodiest days

April 19, 2007
Almost 200 die in one of Baghdad's bloodiest days

Car bombs killed almost 200 people in Baghdad today in the deadliest attacks in the city since US and Iraqi forces launched a security crackdown aimed at halting the country's slide into civil war.

One car bomb in the mainly Shiite Sadriya neighbourhood killed 140 people and wounded 150, police said, making it the worst insurgent bomb attack in Baghdad since the US-led invasion in 2003.

"The street was transformed into a swimming pool of blood," said Ahmed Hameed, a shopkeeper near the scene.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking in Tel Aviv on a visit to the region, called the bombings "horrifying" and indicated Sunni Islamist al Qaeda was to blame.

The apparently coordinated attacks - there were four within a short space of time - occurred hours after Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki said Iraq would take security control of the whole country from foreign forces by the end of the year.