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Iraq bombs strike football fans Iraq bombs strike football fans
(40 minutes later)
Two bomb attacks have killed at least 27 people in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, as crowds celebrated a famous victory by the national football team. Two bomb attacks have killed at least 50 people and injured 135 in Baghdad as crowds celebrated a famous victory by the national football team.
The first hit the city's Mansour district, where fans were marking a win against South Korea in the Asian Cup semi-finals, killing at least 11. The first strike killed 30 people in the Mansour district, where fans were marking Iraq's win against South Korea in the Asian Cup semi-finals.
The second explosion killed 16 people at an army checkpoint in east Baghdad. Twenty died in the next blast, at an army checkpoint in east Baghdad.
Thousands had gathered on the streets of Baghdad, dancing and chanting in a rare moment of national unity.Thousands had gathered on the streets of Baghdad, dancing and chanting in a rare moment of national unity.
"I was in a car with my friends, people all around were celebrating and then there was a huge explosion and a lot of fire," one eyewitness of the first bomb attack in Mansour, who asked not to be named, told the Agence France-Presse news agency. Police say at least 130 people were wounded in the two attacks, which deliberately targeted celebrating football fans.
Police said that at least 60 people had been injured in the attack, when the car exploded in the excited crowd. Some 75 of those were hurt in Mansour, where a car exploded in the midst of an excited crows, and almost 60 injured by the attack on the checkpoint.
"I was in a car with my friends, people all around were celebrating and then there was a huge explosion and a lot of fire," one anonymous eyewitness to the first bomb attack told the AFP news agency.
Death and joyDeath and joy
A suspected suicide car bomber then blew himself up about 45 minutes later in the midst of dozens of cars filled with supporters, near an Iraqi army checkpoint in the eastern district of Ghadeer. Shortly after the Mansour attack a suspected suicide car bomber blew himself up in the midst of dozens of cars filled with supporters, near an Iraqi army checkpoint in the eastern district of Ghadeer.
Policemen and soldiers join in the celebrationPolicemen and soldiers join in the celebration
At least 16 people were killed, including two soldiers, and nearly 60 were injured, local officials said. The BBC's Nicholas Witchell, in Baghdad, says the football team's win was a genuine moment of national pride and pleasure which had crossed the sectarian divisions between Iraq's different communities.
Separately, at least one person was reported to have died after being hit by stray bullets fired in celebration of the football victory, an Arab tradition popular in a city awash with guns. Just as the Iraqi team has Sunni and Shia Muslims and Kurds playing alongside each other, the celebrations brought members of all those communities out onto the streets, he adds.
They cheered and waved Iraqi flags, sharing, perhaps, the first such moment of national pride in recent years, our correspondents says.
Celebrations marking the national team's football victory also took place in other major cities in Iraq.Celebrations marking the national team's football victory also took place in other major cities in Iraq.
"I am nearly crying for joy," 30-year-old fan Nuri al-Najjar told Reuters in the southern city of Basra."I am nearly crying for joy," 30-year-old fan Nuri al-Najjar told Reuters in the southern city of Basra.
"Iraq's victory with this harmonious team represents the way we should all live together.""Iraq's victory with this harmonious team represents the way we should all live together."
Separately, at least one person was reported to have died after being hit by stray bullets fired in celebration of the football victory, an Arab tradition popular in a city awash with guns.