Bomb kills 25, wounds 60 in Baghdad's Sadr City

Baghdad, Oct 30: A bomb blast ripped through a crowd of labourers in a square in Baghdad's Shi'ite Sadr City district today, killing 25 people and wounding 60, Iraqi Interior Ministry sources said.

The labourers were gathering to wait for job offers, the sources said. Sadr City is a stronghold of radical Shi'ite Mulsim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who heads the powerful Mehdi Army militia.

Sunni Arab insurgents battling U.S. forces and the Shi'ite- led government have in the past struck Sadr City with car bombs and mortar shells. In July, more than 60 people were killed when a car bomb blasted through a Sadr City market.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his U.S. backers have been struggling to bring stability to Iraq more than three years after the U.S.-led invasion. Sectarian violence kills about 100 people a day and political wrangling is hampering reforms.

Maliki and U.S. President George W. Bush agreed at the weekend to accelerate efforts to build up Iraqi security forces after days of public tension between the two leaders.

Bush's Republicans face possible loss of control of Congress in Nov. 7 mid-term elections, with dismay over his Iraq policy a critical factor in voter intentions. Opinion polls show growing numbers of voters want to see U.S. troops starting to come home.

So far 99 U.S. troops have been killed in combat in Iraq in October, the bloodiest month since January 2005.

Building effective Iraqi security forces is a key plank in Bush's plans for an eventual withdrawal of the 140,000 US troops.

Maliki told Reuters on Thursday he could get violence under control in six months if the U.S. military gave his forces more weapons and responsibility.

A top U.S. general said last week it could take 12 or 18 months for Iraqi forces to be ready to take responsibility for the whole country.

Reuters