Bomb attacks killed at least 19 people and wounded 80 in Baghdad on Tuesday as insurgents defied a security crackdown in the Iraqi capital and the prime minister criticised a raid by his own security forces backed by US troops.
BAGHDAD: Bomb attacks killed at least 19 people and wounded 80 in Baghdad on Tuesday as insurgents defied a security crackdown in the Iraqi capital and the prime minister criticised a raid by his own security forces backed by US troops.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he had not authorised an "unjustified" night assault by Iraqi and US forces on a target in the impoverished Shiite suburb of Sadr City, which triggered a gunbattle with Shiite militiamen and saw coalition aircraft called in and bombing a residential area.
His anger underlined the delicate situation in Baghdad where the army is trying to combat sectarian death squads without being drawn into war with the militias, which are linked to factions in Maliki's ruling coalition.
The first bomb blast echoed around the city at dawn, when a roadside booby-trap ripped open a minibus and a taxi in the downtown Nahda area. Nine commuters were killed and eight wounded, an interior ministry official said.
Almost immediately afterwards, two more blasts targeted a police patrol nearby, wounding three officers, he added.
Four hours later, two more bombs detonated in rapid succession in the crowded Shorjah market in the commercial heart of the city.
Ten people were killed and 69 wounded in the blasts, which set fire to several shops and sent a thick plume of black smoke above the skyline.
The attacks were the second in the space of a week on Shorjah. Five days ago 10 people were killed there when an explosives-laden moped detonated.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=spacer}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}