World

Deadly Car Bombs Hit Baghdad

by Rachel Nixon | April 6, 2009 at 08:39 am

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Six car bombs have exploded in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing at least 34 people and wounding more than 100 others.

A blast at a popular market in the Shi'ite Muslim slum of Sadr City in east Baghdad killed at least 10 people and wounded 65. Another car bomb blew up next to a group of labourers queuing for work, killing six people and wounding 16.

Hours later, south Baghdad's Um al-Maalif neighbourhood was shaken by two blasts in a market, killing 12 and wounding 25.

Amongst other attacks, a car bomb missed the convoy of an interior ministry official but killed two bystanders in the New Baghdad neighbourhood. And another blast shook a market area of Husseiniya in the north of the capital.

Violence has dropped sharply in Iraq to levels not seen since the US-led invasion in March 2003, but armed groups still strike with often fatal results. Some 250 Iraqis are reported to have been killed in March.

The attacks came after Iraqi forces last week put down an uprising by members of a so-called Awakening Council group in Baghdad angry over the arrest of their commander.

It is not clear if Monday's attacks were connected.