Car bomb strikes near Iraqi Shi'ite shrine

KUFA, Iraq, July 18: A car bomb exploded near a crowded market that is also next to a Shi'ite Muslim shrine in the southern Iraqi city of Kufa today, causing unknown casualties, police and witnesses said.

Policemen who arrived in the scene were pelted with rocks by angry supporters of a radical Shi'ite cleric, who has followers in the city, a Reuters witness said. Police fired shots in the air to disperse the crowds, and the Reuters witness saw at least two wounded from the shooting.

REUTERS