Erbil Bombings - Erbil, Iraq
Posted by: 
Torgut
N 36° 11.508 E 043° 59.427
38S E 409231 N 4005694
On the 1st February 2004 two bombs detonated where the memorial stands killing 117 persons and injuring 133.
Waymark Code: WM1C5FR
Location: Iraq
Date Posted: 06/08/2025
Views: 0
February 2004. The area where the memorial now stands was quite different. There was a building, the headquarters of a political party. And it was time to celebrate Eid Al-Adha, an important moment in Muslim life. So a crowd was assembling in the area when two suicide bombers detonated the devices attached to their bodies. Nobody ever claimed the attack. One of the victims was an influent politician, Sami Abdulrahman, and the surrounding park was named after him.
From Wikipedia:
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"The 2004 Erbil bombings was a double suicide attack on the offices of Iraqi Kurdish political parties in Erbil, Kurdistan Region on 1 February 2004. The attackers detonated explosives strapped to their bodies as hundreds gathered to celebrate Eid Al-Adha in Erbil.[1]
A former government minister, the deputy governor of Erbil Governorate and the city's police chief were among those killed at the offices of the Kurdistan Region's main political groups, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The attacks occurred as party leaders were receiving hundreds of visitors to mark the start of Eid.
The Al-Hayat newspaper allegedly speculated that the bombings may have been retribution for the capture of bin Laden's courier Hassan Ghul in The Kurdistan Region.
"We have no group that's claimed responsibility," Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman Dan Senor said, saying al Qaeda or Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish Islamist group with suspected al Qaeda ties, could be responsible. "It could be any number of groups attempting to operate inside Iraq," he added."