Car bomb kills up to 10 in eastern Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Mar 10 (Reuters) A car bomb killed up to 10 people and wounded many more when it exploded near a main road in a Shi'ite district of eastern Baghdad today, police said.
The remotely-detonated bomb targeted civilians on the outskirts of the Shi'ite district of Sadr City, several miles from the city centre where security was increased as regional and international officials gathered for a conference on Iraq.
One police source said 10 people were killed and 43 wounded while another put the toll at six with 20 wounded.
Medical sources put the death toll at eight with 37 wounded.
Authorities frequently give different casualty numbers in Iraq because of the chaos of the situation.
Sadr City is the Baghdad stronghold of the Mehdi Army, a Shi'ite militia loyal to radical young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. US and Iraqi forces last week pushed into the district as part of a major security crackdown throughout Baghdad.
The Shi'ite district of Baghdad has frequently been targeted by major car bombs blamed by the government on Sunni Arab militants such as al Qaeda.
The Baghdad security crackdown is seen as a last ditch effort to stem sectarian violence that threatens to pitch Iraq into civil war that could destabilise the region.
Authorities were on alert for attacks aimed at disrupting the regional conference at the Foreign Ministry, in the city centre. Two mortars landed near the venue around lunchtime, shaking the building, witnesses said.
Millions of Shi'ites were also converging on the southern city of Kerbala for the climax of the religious rite of Arbain today. Such events have been targeted by insurgents before and security was tight there too.
REUTERS
AKJ
RAI1835