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.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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