Iraq Qaeda-led group claims blast killed 59

Dubai, July 20: An Iraqi group led by al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed at least 59 people at a market, but said the attack targeted a Shi'ite militia, according to an Internet posting today.

Iraqi police said a suicide bomber set off the blast on Tuesday after luring Shi'ite Muslim day labourers aboard his minivan with an offer of casual work at the crowded market in the town of Kufa, south of Baghdad.

A statement signed by the Mujahideen Shura Council said ''a Muslim lion'' caused the blast that killed and wounded dozens at a gathering of the ''treacherous (Badr) brigade in Kufa''.

The statement could not be authenticated but it was posted on a main Web site used by Sunni insurgents fighting the US-backed Baghdad government.

The Kufa blast was one of the bloodiest attacks of the year in Iraq and followed an attack on another market on Monday that killed a similar number.

The bloodshed has dealt a blow to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's efforts to promote national reconciliation and avoid a slide towards sectarian civil war.

Reuters