By STEVEN R. HURST
The Associated Press
Saturday, February 2, 2008; 3:36 AM
BAGHDAD -- Two women described as mentally disabled and strapped with remote-control explosives _ and possibly used as unwitting suicide bombers _ brought carnage Friday to two pet bazaars, killing at least 99 people in the deadliest day since Washington flooded the capital with extra troops last spring.
Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, Iraq's chief military spokesman in Baghdad, said the women had Down syndrome and may not have known they were on suicide missions, but gave no further details on how authorities pieced together the evidence. He also said the bombs were detonated by remote control.
The coordinated blasts _ coming 20 minutes apart in different parts of the city _ appeared to reinforce U.S. claims al-Qaida in Iraq may be increasingly desperate and running short of able-bodied men willing or available for such missions.
But they also served as a reminder that Iraqi insurgents are constantly shifting their strategies in attempts to unravel recent security gains around the country. Women have been used in ever greater frequency in suicide attacks because they often encounter less scrutiny by security officials.
The twin attacks at the pet markets, however, could mark a disturbing use of unknowing agents of death.
In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the bombings prove al-Qaida is "the most brutal and bankrupt of movements" and will strengthen Iraqi resolve to reject terrorism.
On Saturday, dozens of charred bodies covered with canvas tarps lay in an alley outside a hospital morgue. Weeping relatives loaded the bodies into simple wood coffins and strapped them atop minivans for transport to cemeteries. A teenage boy was curled up in the back of a pickup truck, moaning over the coffin of a dead friend.
Iraqi officials raised the death toll to 99 on Saturday, but they were unable to immediately provide a casualty break down in the two bombings. The police and Interior Ministry officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
Earlier, officials had said the first bomber was detonated about 10:20 a.m. in the central al-Ghazl market. Four police and hospital officials said at least 46 people were killed and more than 100 wounded.
Police said the woman wearing the bomb sold cream in the mornings at the market and was known to locals as "the crazy lady."
The pet bazaar has been bombed repeatedly, but with violence declining in the capital, the market had regained popularity as a shopping district and place to stroll on Fridays, the Muslim day of prayer.
But on Friday, it was returned to a scene straight out of the worst days of the conflict. Firefighters scooped up debris scattered among pools of blood, clothing and pigeon carcasses.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/02/AR2008020200350.html
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