Funerals, injured in hospital after car bomb kills 63

(18 Jun 2008) SHOTLIST Kadhimiyah neighbourhood 1. Coffins on ground with relatives standing by 2. Relatives outside morgue watching through fence 3. Various of mourners carrying coffins to minibus 4. Women in black mourning, beating their chests and crying 5. Various of mourners carrying coffins to minivan 6. Various of minivans and minibus with coffins on top driving towards cemetery Hurriyah neighbourhood 7. Various of funeral procession with mourners carrying coffin and chanting (Arabic) "There is no God but Allah" 8. Mourners placing coffin on top of minibus 9. Man crying 10. Men securing coffin on top of minibus 11. Wide of mourners, zoom-in to man crying 12. Minibus with coffin on top driving towards cemetery Kadhimiyah neighbourhood 13. Injured man lying on bed in al-Kadhimiyah Teaching Hospital 14. Mid of injured young man on bed 15. Wide of injured in hospital ward 16. Mid of injured girl on bed 17. Close up of bandaged leg 18. Various of Injured men on bed 19. Top shot of people waiting outside morgue 20. Top shot of coffin on top of minibus STORYLINE There were scenes of anguish and mourning in a Shiite neighbourhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, a day after a deadly car bombing claimed the lives of at least 63 people, including women and children. AP Television filmed mourners collecting coffins containing the remains of their loved ones from a local hospital morgue, before setting off on a funeral procession through the Hurriyah neighbourhood. No group claimed responsibility for Tuesday's blast, which occurred late in the afternoon on a bustling commercial street in Hurriyah, scene of some of the bloodiest sectarian slaughter in 2006. The attack was the deadliest in the Iraqi capital since March 6, when a pair of bombs detonated in the mostly Shiite district of Karradah, killing 68 people and wounding about 120. At least 78 people were wounded in the Hurriya bombing, many of them children. Most of the injured were taken to Baghdad's al-Kadhimiyah Teaching Hospital, where they continued to receive treatment on Wednesday. The blast shattered the relative calm in the capital since a May 11 ceasefire ended seven weeks of fighting between US and Iraqi forces and Shiite militants in the Sadr City district. Ironically, it came the same day the Iraqi parliament announced plans to move outside the US-protected Green Zone - a show of confidence that the worst of Baghdad's violence was over. The government said the horrific attack would stiffen its resolve "to defeat the terrorists and to maintain the security achievements". Initial speculation suggested Sunni extremists may have been behind the attack, but US spokesman on Wednesday said the US military command did not believe al-Qaida in Iraq was behind the attack, based on the type of vehicle and explosives used. Instead, he said the command believed the attack was carried out by a Shiite special group led by Haydar Mehdi Khadum al-Fawadi, with the aim of re-igniting sectarian violence that swept Hurriya neighbourhood 18 months ago. US and Iraqi forces have been searching for al-Fawadi for months and his photo is displayed on checkpoints in the area. The US uses the term "special groups" to identify breakaway factions of the Mahdi Army, the biggest Shiite militia led by radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...