Relatives of Adhamiya inferno survivors panic-stricken

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Um Ammar, a woman living in al-Adhamiya, northern Baghdad, heaved a sigh of relief when she learnt that her son Ammar, who was heading for his college on Monday morning, survived the hellish blast in their area, where 28 people were killed and 62 others injured. “I was consumed by fear when I heard the sounds of formidable blasts that I ran barefoot in the street to check on my son, who had just went out of the house to go to his Ibn al-Haytham Education College,” Um Ammar, a 54-year-old housewife, told IraqiNews.com. She said she was watching the ambulances carrying wounded civilians. “I grew even more worried when his cell phone did not answer his brother’s calls,” she added. “I was advised by some people to go to al-Nu’man hospital in al-Adhamiya and the Medical City in Bab al-Muadham area. I went there and found my son’s name on a list of wounded persons for treatment from shrapnel in his back,” she said. Journalist Haydar Nejm, a local resident who works for Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, and happened to be near the scene of the double bombing attack, termed the blasts as “heinous”. “I was stepping out of my house to my workplace as usual when the first blast occurred 200 meters away from me. I have watched body parts flying in the air before two other explosive charges went off,” Nejm told IraqiNews.com. “The survivors were running aimlessly here and there for fears other blasts might occur,” he added, noting owners of stores that were not harmed by the explosions rushed to help rescue the wounded and place them inside vehicles. “Some of those shopkeepers even carried injured victims on their shoulders even before the ambulances arrived at the scene to carry them to nearby hospitals,” he said. Nejm pointed out that most of the victims were civil servants and university students as well as some policemen who used to frequent restaurants in the area, where the explosions took place during the rush hour as government departments start their working day at 8:00 a.m. Ghanim, who owns a shop fixing TV sets, was surprised the area has become target for attacks. “Al-Kisra, in the district of al-Adhamiya, is one of the safe areas never witnessed a sectarian strife among its residents during the past period. Definitely, those who masterminded the attacks have tried to foment sedition and kill as large number of civilians as possible,” Ghanim, 44, told IraqiNews.com. A wave of explosions in Baghdad was on the rise during the past couple of weeks. Security officials stated to the mass media that some armed groups are trying to prove that they are still active. AmR (S) 1