Death toll from suicide bombings in NW Iraq rises to 500

This isn't a positive trend at all. Initially, and still with some news agencies, the reported number killed was at least 175. Then the reports started coming out the number was 200 as more bodies were found. Xinhua was told the number was 250. Now its double that and could rise higher.

The death toll from four apparently coordinated suicide car bombings near Iraq's northwestern town of Sinjar late Tuesday rose dramatically to 500, while 375 others injured, hospital official told Xinhua on Wednesday.

"We have received 500 corpses and 375 others injured people," said Dr. Kifah Muhammad, the manager of the hospital in Sinjar, a town in western Nineveh province.

He added that the death toll could rise further as rescue workers continue to ferry the victims to the hospital. The newly obtained figure from the hospital doubled the death toll Xinhua earlier got from a local police source, which said that 250 people were killed and 300 others injured.

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