Iraq blasts kill 46, try to derail summit

BAGHDAD -- Insurgents plotting to derail next week's Arab League meeting in Baghdad unleashed bloody attacks across Iraq yesterday, killing 46 people. The government vowed not to be scared off from hosting the summit -- the first in the country in a generation and a chance to prove it is moving toward normalcy after years of war.

Bombs struck Shia pilgrims in the holy city of Karbala, set cars on fire in Kirkuk, and targeted security forces and government officials in Baghdad and surrounding cities. Iraqis out shopping or eating at restaurants on the bright, spring day fell victim to the onslaught: More than 200 people were wounded in fewer than six hours.

"Dozens of cars were on fire," said a panicked Saman Majid, who had just arrived at his job at a police station in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, when a car in the parking lot exploded. Thirteen people, most of them police officers, were killed and 59 injured in that attack alone, said Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir.

The attacks were not entirely unexpected: Government and security officials have warned for weeks that al-Qaida and Sunni sympathizers would try to thwart the League summit by sowing fear about Baghdad's stability. Plans for the capital to host the meeting last year were postponed, in part because of concerns about security.

Despite numerous roadblocks, checkpoints and other security measures ringing Baghdad, yesterday's violence showed how easily the militants penetrated the sensitive heart of the capital. A bomb exploded near the Foreign Ministry and offices for security directors overseeing the summit. Another blew up outside the Green Zone shortly after dawn.

The Iraqi wing of al-Qaida said it was behind the bombing outside the Foreign Ministry. The Islamic state of Iraq, a local front group for al-Qaida, posted a taunting statement on a militant website.

The Shia-led government staunchly stood by its $400 million plans to host the summit.