4 Die in Baghdad Shelling; Iraq Blames Iran, U.S.
Iraqis wept and demanded revenge Wednesday for a mortar strike on a Baghdad apartment building that killed at least four people, an attack that officials blamed on Iran and the United States.
A senior Iraqi leader said that warming ties between Iran and the U.S. encouraged “Persian agents” to attack a residential quarter in the capital late Tuesday. Thirty-eight people were injured.
“Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!” weeping women shouted as an angry crowd carried coffins through the streets.
With the shelling, “the Iranian regime is striving to satisfy the United States,” declared Abdel Ghani Abdel Ghafour, a senior member of Iraq’s ruling Arab Baath Socialist Party.
Last week, the U.S. said that it will lift some sanctions on Iran as a prelude to improving relations.
Iraq and Iran fought an eight-year war that ended with a cease-fire in 1988, and their relations since the war have remained tense.
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