An enormous oil pipeline blast lay waste to parts of a central Mexican city Sunday, cremating people, cars, houses and trees as talkative crude turned streets into blazing rivers. At least 28 people were killed, 13 of them children, in a tragedy powers that be blamed on oil thieves.
The oil blast in San Martin Texmelucan, initally predictable to have affected 5,000 residents in a three-mile (five-kilometer) radius, scorched homes and cars and left metal and asphalt road twisted and in some cases burned to ash in the powerful heat.
Relations sobbed as firefighters pulled charred bodies from the burned homes, some of the remnants barely more than piles of ashes and bones.
Officials knew all but four of the dead by Sunday night. Even though they released some names, they didn't say if they were all inhabitants of the area or possible suspects.
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The deadly suicide bombing outside a Baghdad army headquarters won't halt Iraq's transition to democracy — or the U.S. troop withdrawal, the White House said Tuesday.Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton said both are "firmly on track."U.S. troops in Iraq are scheduled to end their role in major combat operations by the end of the month. The remaining force of 50,000 is to focus on training, backup and counterterrorism.Tuesday's blast, which killed dozens of recruits waiting to enlist, was one of the bloodiest in months. And it came as Iraqi political leaders remain deadlocked on forming a government five months after parliamentary elections."There obviously are still people who want to derail the advances that the Iraqi people have made toward democracy," Burton told reporters aboard President Barack Obama's plane, as Obama headed for a day of politicking in Seattle. "But they are firmly on track. And we're confident that we're moving toward the end of our combat mission."
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