The 3 March 2010 Baqubah bombings were a series of three bombings in

Baqubah Baqubah ( ar, بَعْقُوبَة; BGN: Ba‘qūbah; also spelled Baquba and Baqouba) is the capital of Iraq's Diyala Governorate. The city is located some to the northeast of Baghdad, on the Diyala River. In 2003 it had an estimated populat ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

, on 3 March 2010 that killed at least 33 people and injured 55 others. Baqubah, a mixed Sunni and

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...

town, is the capital of Diyala Governorate, approximately north of the country's capital,

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

. The bombings occurred in the lead-up to the parliamentary elections scheduled for 7 March 2010. At 9:45 am local time, a car bomb was detonated near a police station in the western part of the city. A few moments later, approximately away, another car bomb was detonated near the provincial building. A suicide bomber later detonated a bomb at the hospital where some of the wounded were being treated. The hospital bomber posed as a police lieutenant and rode an ambulance to the hospital. A fourth bomb was found near the hospital and defused. After the bombings, a full curfew was imposed on the city of Baqubah, barring even pedestrians. Among the dead were ten policemen, and Dr. Ali al-Timimi, head of Diyala Governorate's health department. The perpetrator of the bombings has yet to be identified, but Al-Qaeda in Iraq had previously promised to disrupt the elections on 7 March. Authorities, both American and Iraqi, have reportedly warned that more attacks could occur before, and even after the elections. Despite the concerns, early voting began, as scheduled, the morning of 4 March.

United States response

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said "It's disgraceful, it's deplorable. We strongly condemn it, that said, neither this attack nor any of the previous attempts to derail the electoral process and to destabilise the government have been or will be successful."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baqubah bombings 2010 murders in Iraq 21st-century mass murder in Iraq Mass murder in 2010 Terrorist incidents in Iraq in 2010 Suicide car and truck bombings in Iraq Suicide bombings in Iraq Violence against Shia Muslims in Iraq March 2010 events in Iraq

United States response

See also

References