Baby who survived in mum's lap as she was burnt alive

Updated on: 08 April,2009 08:21 AM IST |
Agencies |

Six-month-old boy only had a few bruises; father is critical

Six-month-old boy only had a few bruises; father is critical

A baby miraculously survived a car bombing cradled in his mother's lap as she was burnt alive in a blast that claimed the lives of eight people yesterday. The baby boy's father was also seriously wounded in the attack in northern Baghdad.

miracle: Asad Raad, a motorbike seller, holds a baby boy he rescued from a car bombing in Baghdad, Iraq, yesterday. Raad took the boy, who had minor burns to the face, to his home and said would care for the infant. Eight people died in the bombing. pic/ap

The bombing came on the heels of six car bomb blasts that killed 34 people in mainly Shiite areas of Baghdad on Monday.

The baby, aged about six months, and his parents were in a car stuck in traffic on Nuwab Street, a crowded commercial road that leads to the holy Shiite shrine of Kadhimiyah when the bomb went off around midday.

"We managed to take him out of the car, he had bruises and was covered with his mother's blood," said Sadiq al-Maliki, a 36-year-old mechanic who helped some of the victims, adding that the mother was definitely dead.

"We also put out the fire burning his father's clothes and he was taken to the hospital."

A policeman said the father had suffered serious burns and was in critical condition.

Asad Raad, who was standing on the street after the explosion, was handed the baby by police and asked to take care of him.

"The baby was crying, my wife fed him, and he is in a good condition. He is now smiling," he said.
"I will take care of him until we find out who his family. He is a victim."

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