Suicide bomb at celebration for released detainee, kills 25, funerals

(25 Aug 2008) 1. Wide of suicide bomb scene 2. Mid of turned over buckets 3. Rubble hanging from tree 4. Shoes and slippers on the ground 5. Pillows on the ground 6. People walking among rubble 7. Man holding up carpet stained with blood at blast scene 8. Various of scattered belongings on the ground 9. Wide of funeral procession 10. Men praying in front of coffins 11. Men carrying coffins away 12. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Eyewitness, no name given: "We were invited to a banquet, a suicide bomber blew himself up next to the people invited to the banquet. More than 20 people were killed." 13. Various of mourners standing and sitting around coffins draped in blankets in cemetery 14. Various of cemetery STORYLINE: Funerals were held in Baghdad on Monday for the victims of a suicide bombing that took place in the midst of a celebration to welcome home an Iraqi detainee released from US custody. A suicide bomber blew himself up on Sunday in the midst of the celebrations, killing at least 25 people, Iraqi officials said. AP Television footage on Monday showed the scene of the blast, with belongings of the victims scattered on the ground. The footage also showed a funeral procession being held for some of those killed. The suicide attack occurred inside one of several tents set up outside a house in the Abu Ghraib area on Baghdad's western outskirts, according to residents and police. It was unclear if the former detainee was among the casualties. A woman who was wounded but declined to give her name for security reasons said she was preparing food behind the tents when the blast occurred in the evening, knocking her and her three young children off their feet. One guest at the banquet told AP Television: "We were invited to a banquet, a suicide bomber blew himself up next to the people invited to the banquet. More than 20 people were killed." Residents and police said Ayyid Salim al-Zubaie, a local sheik in the mainly Sunni area, had invited dozens of guests to a banquet in honour of his son, who was released earlier in the day from Camp Bucca in southern Iraq. Residents said the detainee-son had quarrelled with al-Qaida members while in detention and may have been the target of the attack. The guests also included several members of the local awakening council, a US-allied group that has turned against al-Qaida. A doctor at the hospital in nearby Fallujah where most of the wounded were taken, gave the death toll as 25 and said at least 29 other people were wounded. The blast was a grim reminder of the dangers still facing Iraqis despite a sharp decrease in violence after the 2007 US troop build-up, a Sunni decision to join forces with the Americans against al-Qaida and a Shiite militia cease-fire. 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...