Baghdad car bomb kills 15, wounds 30

BAGHDAD: At least 15 people were killed and another 35 wounded when a car bomb exploded near an important Sunni mosque in northern Baghdad on Tuesday, security and medical sources said.   

The attack happened at dusk near a market area and close to the Abu Hanifa al-Nooman mosque, in the largely Sunni district of Adhamiyah.   

Fifteen people were killed and 35 wounded when the vehicle exploded, said a medical source on condition of anonymity. A security source confirmed the toll.   

The attack came just minutes after news broke that a panel of Iraqi judges had upheld a death sentence against former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity over the massacre of 148 Shiite villagers in the 1980s.   

The famous Abu Hanifa mosque was where Saddam made his last public appearance before fleeing Baghdad in 2003 as US forces invaded the country to oust his Sunni-dominated Baathist regime from power.   

Adhamiyah has often seen heavy gun battles between security forces and fighters in the wake of the 2003 invasion, which precipitated a Sunni-led insurgency that has since disintegrated into deadly sectarian warfare.   

The attack came just hours after 25 people died in a triple car bombing in southwest Baghdad, when three vehicles exploded within minutes of each other sending enormous clouds of smoke billowing into the air.