Car Bomb Kills 51 in Baghdad

Source: Alalam.ir, 17-06-2008

BAGHDAD--A powerful car bomb exploded in a crowded market area of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 51 people and wounding 75, in the biggest attack in the Iraqi capital in months.

The bomb blew up near the main market in the predominantly Shiaa neighborhood of al-Hurriya in northwestern Baghdad, police said. It left a heap of smoking, mangled wreckage.

Before the blast, the market would have been packed with late-afternoon shoppers buying food before returning home.

Police said 51 people were killed and 75 were wounded, including women and children.
The blast set fire to about 20 shops and leveled a multi-storey building, a security source said. Many vehicles were damaged by the blast, which cut off electricity to the area.

Ambulances raced back and forth taking casualties to nearby hospitals.

Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack.

Elsewhere on Tuesday a parked car bomb exploded outside police headquarters in central Baquba, 65 km northeast of Baghdad, killing a policeman and wounding 20 other people, including 10 policemen, police said.

The car bombings came hours after a bomb hidden on a motorcycle exploded at a checkpoint in north Baghdad, killing four fighters of a group battling Al-Qaeda militants.

That attack took place at around 10:00 am (0700 GMT) at a checkpoint run by the fighters in Al-Sulek neighborhood, security officials said. Four other members of the group were wounded, along with two civilians.

Tuesday's attack was the deadliest car bombing since March 13, when a parked car exploded near a bridge in Tahrir Square, killing 18 people.

It occurred on the same day the Iraqi parliament announced it will start holding sessions outside the US-protected Green Zone in the fall -- the latest bid by Iraqi authorities to bolster public confidence in the security gains and assert their independence.

The 275-member legislative body currently meets in a heavily guarded convention center inside the Green Zone, a sprawling maze of concrete barriers and checkpoints in central Baghdad.
Deputy parliamentary speaker Khalid al-Attiyah told lawmakers that they will move to the Saddam Hussein-era parliament building for the next legislative term, which is due to begin on Sept. 1.

The National Assembly building that was used by the Iraqi parliament under Saddam is in the Allawi district, about 500 meters (yards) away from the blast walls that form the perimeter of the Green Zone on the west side of the Tigris River.