Baghdad bombs to cost 16 million dollars in repair

The near-simultaneous bomb attacks in Baghdad killed 153 people and left more than 500 wounded.

Repairs to government buildings after massive bombings in the centre of the Iraqi capital last week will cost around 16 million dollars, officials said on Sunday.

The near-simultaneous attacks, a truck bombing at the justice and public works ministries and a car bomb at the Baghdad provincial government offices, killed 153 people and left more than 500 wounded.

Following a cabinet meeting on Sunday, ministers allocated 16 billion dinars (13.7 million dollars) for the rehabilitation of the ministries, both of which were badly damaged in the October 25 carnage.

The cabinet agreed that the ministry of finance should transfer the money ... to fix and renovate the ministries of justice and municipalities.

government statement

"The cabinet agreed that the ministry of finance should transfer the money ... to fix and renovate the ministries of justice and municipalities," a government statement said.

It added that nine billion dinars would be for the ministry of justice, while the remainder would be for the ministry of public works.

Baghdad Governor Salah Abdul Razzaq, meanwhile, told AFP that the provincial government had earmarked three billion dinars (2.6 million dollars) for the repair of its offices.

He criticised the central government, however, for not funding those renovations, noting that "even though we are a local government, it was the same attack, the same damage, the same disaster."

"When I went to the hospital, I visited all the people who were injured in both the attacks -- at the ministries, and the provincial government buildings," he said, to underline his point.