Saturday, June 27, 2009 BAGHDAD: Iraq's main motorcycle market was hit by a bombing that killed 13 people and wounded dozens on Friday, just four days before US soldiers pull out from cities, towns and villages nationwide. The blast, the latest in a string of attacks in the run-up to Tuesday's withdrawal of American troops, prompted US President Barack Obama to say that conflict-hit Iraq must make greater efforts to counter sectarian tension. Defence and interior ministry officials confirmed the toll of Friday's bomb and said it went off in the capital's Nahdha district at around 9 am (0600 GMT), as people gathered at the market on the Muslim day of rest. "People burned and bodies were thrown everywhere," said Omar Hashem, 34, covered in blood, who was accompanying a friend planning to sell a motorcycle when the explosion struck. "At first we ran away but we returned to help the victims. Blood and body parts covered dozens of motorcycles that were completely destroyed." Bike trader Maytham Abdelamir, 23, crying, said: "There was a huge shockwave. I saw so many people burned; others were thrown in the air. My friend was killed."Officials from two Baghdad hospitals told media that 54 people were wounded.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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