Bomb kills 52 in Baghdad's Sadr City - police

[sabra]

Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD, June 24 (Reuters) - A bomb killed 52 people on Wednesday at a market in eastern Baghdad's volatile Sadr City slum, police said, six days before U.S. combat troops are due to withdraw from Iraqi towns and cities.

About 104 people were also wounded in the blast, which was one of the worst attacks in Iraq this year. A witness said the explosion tore through a part of the market where birds are sold, setting stalls ablaze.

Violence in Iraq has dropped sharply in the past year, but militants still launch deadly bombings aimed at undermining the government and reigniting sectarian conflict.

Three school students died in another bombing in Sadr City on Monday, one of a string of blasts across the country that killed 27 people that day. In Kirkuk province late last week 73 people were killed in a truck bomb.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LO579481.htm

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Where is Saddam when you really need him?

[Turborama]

2. Seems like they're trying to make us stay. n/t

[laststeamtrain]

3. Bomb strikes Shiite market in Baghdad, killing 69

Source: AP

Bomb strikes Shiite market in Baghdad, killing 69
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 11 mins ago

BAGHDAD – A bomb ripped through a crowded market in Baghdad's main Shiite district on Wednesday, killing at least 69 people and wounding more than 100 less than a week before a deadline for U.S. combat troops to leave Iraq's urban areas.

A series of blasts this week have killed more than 160 people, as U.S. and Iraqi officials warned they expected more violence before the U.S. withdrawal from cities.

American troops already have begun pulling back from the joint bases that they occupied with Iraqi security forces as part of a counterinsurgency strategy aimed at clearing volatile areas and holding them.

The recent spike in violence has raised new concern about the ability of Iraqi forces to protect the people, but a U.S. military spokesman insisted that American combat troops would be out of the cities by Tuesday as required by a security pact.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090624/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

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Our work is done now.

We messed the place up real good.

We're the best at what we do.