- Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A series of bombs killed 35 children and seven adults Thursday as U.S. troops handed out candy at a government ceremony to inaugurate a new sewage treatment plant. Hours earlier, a suicide blast killed a U.S. soldier and two Iraqis on the capital’s outskirts.

The bombs in Baghdad’s al-Amel neighborhood caused the largest death toll of children in any insurgent attack since the conflict in Iraq (news - web sites) began 17 months ago.

“The Americans called us, they told us, ‘Come here, come here,’ asking us if we wanted sweets. We went beside them, then a car exploded,” said 12-year-old Abdel Rahman Dawoud, lying naked in a hospital bed with shrapnel embedded all over his body.

[snip]

The explosions killed 42 people and wounded 141, including 10 U.S. soldiers. The wounded included 72 children under the age of 14, said Dr. Mohammed Salaheddin.

While U.S. soldiers were doing good deeds and trying to form a better relationship with the Iraqi people, terrorists decided this was the opportunity they were looking for and set off car bombs. No group has yet to claim responsibility for the act, however it is reasonable to assume the attack was organized by Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi’s group Tawhid wal Jihad based upon similar car bombings recently that bear similar circumstances.

Update:
Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi’s group has claimed responsiblity for the suicide bombings that killed the 35 children and injured over 140 people. Read a translated statement here.

Cross-posted at Backcountry Conservative

ISOU linked with A DEAD CHILD, IS A DEAD CHILD, PEOPLE!