BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber killed 33 people and wounded 46 others Tuesday when he attacked a group of Shiite and Sunni tribesmen and police officers touring a local market in Baghdad’s western suburb of Abu Ghraib, local officials and police said.
Tribal leaders had met with a delegation from the interior ministry at Abu Ghraib’s city hall and then escorted them on a tour to show how safe the district was, according to Nameer Hamdani, a member of the area’s district council.
“One of those who claimed that they are mujahedeen (Islamic warriors) . . . targeted the delegation while they were having a tour in the public market,” Hamdani said.
The explosion occurred away from the visiting security officials and instead killed and injured some journalists and policemen trailing the delegation, Hamdani said. Some shooting erupted after the blast between insurgents and security forces, he added.
The blast killed a reporter and cameraman from the private Baghdadiya satellite channel, and a cameraman from the state-run Iraqia channel was wounded, police said. One police lieutenant colonel, who commanded a battalion, also was killed, police said.
There was no breakdown of how many of the casualties were police or civilians.
The bombing followed a similar attack on Sunday in Baghdad when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed 33 people waiting to enter the interior ministry compound in Baghdad for a police recruitment drive.
