Sri Lankan, Russian foreign ministers condemn Baghdad blasts

(October 26 , Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Russian and Sri Lankan foreign ministers have condemned a recent terrorists attack in Baghdad which claimed some 150 lives and injured hundreds more.

According to latest media reports, at least 147 people were killed and more than 700 wounded as two suicide car bombings ripped through downtown Baghdad on Sunday morning in one of the deadliest attacks in the country in the last few years. Iraqi authorities have announced a three-day mourning period.

"We strongly condemn the terrorists' activity in Iraq, including those explosions organized yesterday in Baghdad," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference following talks with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama in Colombo on Monday.

One suicide car bombing targeted the Justice Ministry in the Iraqi capital, and was followed, shortly by another one aimed at a Baghdad government building. The Iraqi office of the Russia Today TV channel was also damaged in the blasts.

A source in the local security agencies said the explosions could have been targeted against Iraqi diplomats who were having a meeting in a hotel opposite the Justice Ministry building.

Lavrov is in Sri Lanka on a short visit in order to draw up agreements on air transport, legal aid in criminal cases, tourism cooperation, trade, and economic partnership. A memorandum of understanding between the countries' emergencies ministries is also expected to be signed.

In May, the Sri Lankan military defeated the Tamil Tiger separatists and killed their leader in an operation that brought to an end 25 years of civil war. International rights groups accused the military of shelling the rebels in the war zone, killing large numbers of civilians who were being used as human shields.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko on Sunday said Russia's joint stance with Sri Lanka at the United Nations earlier this year amid international criticism over the country's military operations against Tamil Tiger terrorists serves as a "clear example" of bilateral interaction.

-Sri Lanka Guardian