Iraq blast kills dozens at funeral

Just as Iraqis were welcoming in the new year with hopes for peace, a suicide bomber on Tuesday reminded them of the violent unrest still racking the country with one of the deadliest attacks to hit the capital in months.

At least 35 people were killed and 37 wounded when the attacker detonated an explosives vest at a crowded funeral for an ex-military colonel in Saddam Hussein’s army, police said.

The attack appeared to be timed to coincide with the last day of a three-day funeral ritual, when a big meal is served. In a particularly cruel twist, mourners were grieving for the victim of a suicide bombing last week, Nabil Hussein Alwan.

Most of Tuesday’s victims were close members of Alwan’s family.

Mohanad Saleh, who owns a travel and transport company in the capital’s middle-class neighborhood of Zayouna near the site of the blast, described the scene as “horrifying.”

“The funeral was burning, women screaming and crying, dead people lying on the ground, the wounded hemorrhaging and crying for help,” said Saleh, who ran to the scene after hearing the explosion.

Hospital officials said the injured suffered varying degrees of burns, and many of the dead were charred.

“It’s a terrible thing to happen to mourners who were already experiencing grief due to the loss of their loved one,” Saleh said. “Now they face this terrorism. It’s a very agonizing thing to start the first day of the year with.”

The bombing occurred hours after Iraqis took to the streets to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

In Baghdad’s safer neighborhoods, hopeful residents gathered at parties at two hotels, dancing and setting off small fireworks.

Although 2007 overall was the deadliest year since the war began, the steep decline in violence during the latter half continued in December.

According to statistics released Monday by the Ministry of Health, 481 civilians died nationwide last month in war-related violence such as bombings, mortar attacks and sectarian slayings, the lowest monthly total of the year.

December also marked one of the lowest monthly totals of U.S. military deaths since the war’s start in March 2003, with 23 reported by the independent website icasualties.org.

At a briefing last week, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, said suicide attacks using explosives vests and car bombs had inched back up in November and December, despite a 60% drop-off in high-profile bombings since March.

At least 24 people were killed and as many as 100 injured in two suicide bombings on Christmas Day. On Friday, Alwan and nine other people were killed and 66 wounded in a bombing at Tayaran Square, a busy outdoor marketplace and gathering spot in the capital.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki issued his New Year’s Day greetings in a statement Tuesday on Al Iraqiya television, calling the conclusion of 2007 an “end of triumphs and success.”

This year, he said, will be a year of reconstruction and economic development. He wished for unity and that Iraqis would “forget all the ethnic and sectarian discrimination.”

Maliki, who spoke from London, where he is undergoing what he called routine medical exams, said he wanted to assure people that he is in “good health, thanks to God.”

In other violence, a bomb exploded in north Baghdad on Tuesday morning, injuring four American soldiers and seven civilians, the U.S. military said.

The military also reported the death of a soldier from a noncombat-related injury near the Qayyarah Airfield West. The name of the soldier, who died Monday, was not released pending notification of family. At least 3,904 U.S. personnel have been killed since the war began, according to icasualties.org.

Two civilians were shot to death in their cars south of Kirkuk, Iraqi Police Lt. Marwan Fadhil said.

In the town of Balad, seven Iraqi police officers, including a station chief, were killed in clashes with gunmen, police said. The U.S. military confirmed that the police were ambushed during patrols over the last several days. It reported one Iraqi officer killed and six injured.

kimi.yoshino@latimes.com

Special correspondents in Baghdad, Samarra and Kirkuk contributed to this report.