The Bridges on the River Tigris

Three Four down in one month

22 are dead and 60 wounded following a coordinated dual suicide attack in southeast Baghdad on Thursday. One bomber, driving a truck, and another behind the wheel of a car crammed with explosives,I attacked two checkpoints run by Iraqi police, erected to protect the two most important bridges of the city, a new bridge and a old one spanning the Diyala River, a tributary of the Tigris, as well as the police barracks of the Zafaraniyah quarter of Baghdad, a mixed neighborhood of Sunnis and Shi'a. The two bridges partially collapsed, destroying a crucial link to Salman Pak and southern Iraq. The destruction of these two bridges will cause increased traffic chaos following the 12 April bombing that badly damaged a third bridge. Trucks weighing more than 1.5 tons are now banned on all but 2 bridges into Baghdad. [Via La Repubblica]

* TAIJI - A truck bomb hit a bridge near the town of Taji on the main highway connecting the capital with cities in the north, an Iraqi army source said, adding the attack was followed by a car bomb that killed four Iraqi army soldiers there. [Reuters, via Juan Cole]