20 killed in Baghdad shopping street blast
At least 20 people were killed today after a car bomb exploded in a busy commercial street in a mostly Shiite area of north Baghdad.
It was the third major attack in the Iraqi capital so far this month.
Recent high-profile blasts have suggested to some observers that Sunni insurgents are trying to mount a comeback as the US prepares to leave Iraqi cities in three months and hand responsibility for security in the capital to Iraq.
Survivors voiced fears that the blast heralded a return to violence that swept the capital before US and Iraqi forces turned the tide in late 2007.
Witnesses said the vehicle – believed to be a yellow Peugeot – was parked near a bus stop, a food market and a hospital in the Shaab district when it blew up at around noon.
The blast shattered small shops and food stalls.
Shaab, located on the northern fringes of the city, had been a mixed area of Sunnis and Shiites until many Sunnis were driven out two years ago.
The Iraqi army’s Baghdad command said 20 people were killed and 73 wounded in today’s blast, while an Interior Ministry official said 22 civilians had been killed. Police and hospital officials put the death toll even higher.
One witness said: “This blast came at a time when the security situation has improved. We don’t know why it happened. The blast targeted innocent people.”
Nadhum Mohammed Talib, a 21-year-old student, said he was walking home from the bus stop when the blast shook the area and set several cars on fire.
“I fell to the ground and saw a huge fireball with smoke that covered the area,” he said. “I feel sad that violence is coming back after a recent period of calm security.”
The blast came just one day after a US military spokesman said attacks nationwide had fallen to their lowest level since the early months of the war.
Three days ago, a suicide bomber struck a Kurdish funeral gathering in northern Diyala, killing 27 people, while on March 8 a suicide bomber killed at least 30 people near the heavily guarded police academy in east Baghdad. Two days later a suicide bomber killed 33 people as Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders toured a public market on the western outskirts of Baghdad after a reconciliation meeting.
