Critical Times

Iraq’s parliament is located in Baghdad’s Green Zone – one of the most secure areas in Iraq [EPA]

A suicide bomber has struck Iraq’s parliament building in the heavily fortified Green Zone of Baghdad, Iraqi security said, killing up to eight people and wounding 23.

Thursday’s blast took place in a cafeteria while several ministers were eating lunch, said Mohammed Abu Bakr, who heads the media department at the parliament.

Muhammad Awadh, a member of parliament from the mainly Sunni National Dialogue Front, and Asif Hussein Muhammad, an MP from the Islamic Union of Kurdistan, was killed in the blast.

“We were having a meeting when suddenly we heard a huge blast inside the restaurant. I saw a lot MPs wounded and bleeding,” Fouad al-Massoum, leader of the Kurdish parliamentary bloc, said.

Al Jazeera has learnt that three female MPs from Muqtada al-Sadr’s parliamentary list were wounded in the explosion, along with three members of the United Iraq Alliance, the main Shia bloc in the parliament.

Taha al-Lihaibi, Salman al-Jumaili, Hahim al-Ta’i and two other MPs were injured from the Iraqi Accord Front, another member of parliament told al Jazeera.

The US military said up to eight people were killed in the attack.

US condemns attack

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, condemned the attack which she said was the work of “terrorists” opposed to recent US attempts to a semblance of order to Iraq’s lawless capital.

George Bush, the US president, also condemned the attack.

“It reminds us, though, that there is an enemy willing to bomb innocent people and a symbol of democracy,” he said.

Mahmoud Osman an Iraqi MP from the Kurdish Coalition, told Al Jazeera that the blast showed that there were problems with the US-backed security crackdown in Baghdad.

“It shows that the problem is not just a security one but a political one.”

Osman said he hoped there would be a full investigation into the explosion.

The canteen where the explosion took place is on the first floor of the huge Iraqi parliament building, on the same floor as the 275-member national assembly’s main debating chamber.

High security

Baghdad’s heavily-defended Green Zone is the
heart of US operations of in the country [AFP]
Apparently concerned that an attack might take place, security officials at the parliament were using sniffer dogs earlier on Thursday as people entered the building – a measure rarely employed.

Attacks in the Green Zone are relatively rare. Access is closely restricted to visitors carrying picture identity cards while everyone entering is required to pass through multiple checkpoints and metal detectors.

Anti-government fighters however regularly fire projectiles such as rockets and mortar rounds into the compound from outside its heavily guarded walls.

The Iraqi government will hold an extraordinary session on Friday to condemn “terrorism” In Iraq, officials said.

“The parliament will hold a session tomorrow as a challenge to terrorism,” Mahmud Mashhadani, the Sunni speaker of parliament, told state television Al-Iraqiya.

Shortly before the attack, another suicide bomber driving a truck had detonated his explosives on a bridge in central Baghdad.

The explosion sent the bridge’s iron spans and several nearby cars tumbling into the murky Tigris river.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies