Car bomber targets Iraqi elementary school, 4 killed

USPA News - A deadly bombing targeted a western Iraq elementary school where at least four people were confirmed dead, officials said Monday. The attack took place at a school in Heet District, located in the western province of Anbar, when a suicide car bomber detonated its explosives near the school.

Reports indicate that four school children were killed, including some who were beginning first grade, while at least nine others were also injured. The number of casualties was confirmed by the Advisor of the Governor of Anbar, Mohammed Fat`hi, but he warned that the death toll is expected to rise. Meanwhile, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), strongly condemned the bombing, which comes just as the country`s new school year for over nine million Iraqi children begins. "For schools to be attacked is a despicable crime and we are particularly distressed to learn that some of the victims were young children,"said Martin Kobler, the UN Secretary-General`s Special Representative for Iraq and head of UNAMI, who described the attack as a "shocking act of violence against children." "Whether the school was intended as the target or not, no child should pay the price for violence carried out at the hands of criminals," Kobler added.