Four killed in Baghdad motorcycle bomb blast
A bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded in one of Baghdad’s busiest market areas today, killing at least four people and wounding 18, Iraqi police said.
The blast hit the Shorja market district at about 11am local time, police said. The market is a major point for wholesalers to sell food, clothing and house products in the warehouses, stalls and shops lining the streets.
Back-to-back bombs also struck a market in the religiously mixed area of Baiyaa in western Baghdad at 10.45am, killing three people and wounding 11, police said.
Both areas have been the targets of bombings previously as insurgents seek busy commercial targets to maximise the casualties. Sunni extremists appear to have stepped up attacks ahead of a US-Iraqi push to secure Baghdad.
In northern Iraq, gunmen killed Hussein Abdul Aziz Ahmed, a member of the local council in Gayyara, south of Mosul, as he was driving to work.
