Massive blasts roil illusions of peace in Iraq:

REUTERS
Reuters North American News Service

Apr 23, 2009 10:22 EST

* At least 75 killed in two suicide bomb attacks

* Many Iranian pilgrims among the dead

* Local insurgent leader reported captured

By Aseel Kami

BAGHDAD, April 23 (Reuters) - Two suicide bombers wearing vests stuffed with explosives blew themselves up in separate attacks in Iraq on Thursday, killing 75 people, including many Iranian pilgrims, in the bloodiest day for more than a year.

The blasts occurred as apprehension grows in Iraq ahead of a pullout by U.S. troops from city centres in June, and after warnings from officials that insurgent groups may try to take advantage of that to launch attacks.

A national election due at the end of the year also threatens to stir a resurgence in violence just as the bloodshed of the past six years appeared to be receding.

Shortly after the two attacks, the authorities in Baghdad said they had arrested the purported leader of an al Qaeda-affiliated insurgent group, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. His arrest, which has been reported before, could not be confirmed. One of the attacks occurred near Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, in the volatile province of Diyala. The suicide bomber appeared to have targeted a group of Iranian pilgrims in a crowded roadside restaurant at lunchtime.

All but two of the 47 dead were Iranians visiting Shi'ite Muslim religious sites in Iraq, police said. Sixty-seven people were wounded.

It was the single deadliest attack since 50 people were killed by a suicide bomber in a restaurant near the northern city of Kirkuk on December 11 last year.

The blast in central Baghdad took place as a group of Iraqi national police were distributing relief supplies to families driven from their homes during the sectarian slaughter and insurgency unleashed by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Twenty-eight people died, and 50 were wounded, police said. At least five children were among the dead, they added.

Red Crescent food parcels and shattered packets of chocolate biscuits were strewn in the blood pooled on the pavement after the attack, while a woman dressed in a black abaya robe wailed and beat her thighs in anguish.

"It is a suicide bomber. Obviously that has the fingerprints of al Qaeda," said Baghdad security spokesman Major-General Qassim Moussawi.

BAGHDADI ARREST

Violence across Iraq has fallen sharply over the past year, but insurgents such as Sunni Islamist al Qaeda still carry out attacks. Suicide bombings are often associated with al Qaeda.

A suicide bomber on Wednesday killed at least five people and wounded 15 inside a mosque in central Iraq, and on Monday, a suicide bomber in a police uniform killed four policemen in Diyala. Eight U.S. soldiers were wounded.

While the bombings remain routine, it has been a while since so many people were killed on a single day in Iraq.

On June 17 last year, a truck bomb in Baghdad killed 63, two bombs on March 6, 2008, killed 68 people, also in Baghdad, and female suicide bombers targeting a pet market killed 99 in the capital on Feb. 1, 2008.

Shortly after Thursday's bombings, Moussawi's office in Baghdad reported on its website that Baghdadi, had been arrested in the east of the city.

Baghdadi is said to be the head of the Islamic State of Iraq, one of several groups thought to be behind suicide bombings in the northern city of Mosul and elsewhere in Iraq.

Security experts have speculated that Baghdadi was a character invented by some extremists rather than a real person.

Some Iraqis expect violence to increase in Iraq as rival political and armed groups position themselves ahead of a national election due to take place at the end of the year.

Iraqi officials say al Qaeda and others are also likely to try to test Iraqi security forces as U.S. troops prepare to pull out of cities ahead of a full withdrawal by the end of 2011. (Writing by Michael Christie; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Source: Reuters North American News Service

-mr