At least 34 killed in Baghdad bombings

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has condemned a bomb attack on its office in Baghdad and others across the city in which at least 34 people were killed and up to 200 injured. The ICRC building was attacked with an apparent suicide bomb which went off in front of the office at around 08:40 local time (05:40 GMT), killing 10 people, the ICRC and Iraqi officials told IRIN on Monday. "We condemn the attack and express our condolences to all the victims," an ICRC spokesman, Florian Westphal, told IRIN from Geneva on Monday. "Any deliberate attack on humans is a clear violation of humanitarian law and we are deeply shocked. It is very hard for us to know what motive is behind this when we have been working for the safety of Iraqis since 1980," he stressed. The organisation would be reassessing its working conditions in Baghdad over the next few days. At least two bodies were brought to the street in front of the office before US troops rushed to the area and cordoned it off with barbed wire. Many other people with injuries caused by flying glass walked around in a daze. "There was lots of blood. Four people were injured in my office alone," Muhammad Midhat, a worker in an office across the street from the ICRC office who had white bandages on his forehead and nose with blood oozing out between them, told IRIN. "The blast pushed me three metres back," he added. The blast was heard up to five miles away, and was followed by black smoke billowing from the building. Windows in buildings a block away in a busy business district in the city centre were shattered. At a nearby church, stained glass was hanging from the metal joints holding it in place. One witness said an ambulance packed with explosives ran into the cement barrels directly in front of the building. A red saloon car near the barrels appeared to be on fire, but it was impossible to tell if the car had been involved in the explosion. Sandbags piled 12 feet high ring the office and many workers have been moved to smaller buildings in the back. Most international staff working for ICRC were evacuated to the Jordanian capital, Amman, following the 19 August suicide bomb attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad that killed 23 people. ICRC also lost one of its workers in April this year, a Canadian who was killed in the capital. At present there are no more than 40 ICRC international staff, down from 100 and several hundred local staff working in Baghdad, with no reaction yet as to whether the organisation will downscale even further. "It is too early to say anything. We have to take stock of what has happened first," Westphal said. Following today's incident, relatives and neighbours of ICRC workers quickly gathered in the street, trying to push past US troops guarding the scene. Hundreds of people and cars added to the chaos of the smoke, dust and glass in the street. "My cousin is working there, I have to find him," 48-year-old Raja Ilyas, who ran to the site from the nearby Al-Alwiyah Hospital, where she works as a dentist, told IRIN. "They are mad people. They can't really be Iraqis, because if they are they would not do anything in front of a hospital like this." There were also reports of at least another five explosions in the city on Monday, primarily aimed at police stations, increasing fears of insecurity. Meanwhile, Amnesty International also condemned the suicide bomb attack. "Armed groups must end the policy of targeting Iraqi civilians and international humanitarian agencies who are trying to provide help and assistance to a devastated country," said Amnesty International, a statement issued by the organisation said. The bombings follow Sunday's attack on the Al-Rashid Hotel, where US forces and civilians live and visiting US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying at the time. However, he escaped unhurt. The rocket attack, set off from a park and zoo across the street from the heavily fortified and guarded hotel, killed an American colonel and wounded 18 other people.