At least 9 dead in Baghdad market blasts

BAGHDAD, Feb 12 (Reuters) Two bombs exploded near popular markets in Baghdad today, killing at least nine people and wounding dozens, police sources and witnesses said.

A car bomb near the Shorja wholesale market in central Baghdad killed at least four people, police said. It had also set a building that houses shops selling clothes ablaze. Fire engines and ambulences rushed to the area.

At the Bab al-Sharji market, also in central Baghdad and home to Sunni Arab and Shi'ite traders, at least five people were killed when a roadside bomb exploded, police sources said.

Dozens were wounded in both attacks.

The Shorja wholesale market has been bombed several times in the past. The car bomb blast at that market echoed across Baghdad and sent huge clouds of thick black smoke into the air.

Reuters MQA GC1546