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Series of explosions across Iraq leaves dozens dead

A series of explosions struck commercial areas in Baghdad yesterday, killing at least seven people and wounding dozens, a day after a suspected suicide bomber blew himself up inside one of Baghdad's most prominent Shiite mosques, killing 13 people.

The four blasts dealt a new blow to a big security operation launched earlier this week by the Iraqi government to secure the capital.

Elsewhere, a suicide car bomber exploded his vehicle near a police checkpoint in Mahmoudiya, killing four civilians and wounding 15, Captain Rashid al-Samarie said.

A mortar barrage also hit a residential area in the predominantly Sunni city killing one civilian and wounding three others, al-Samarie said.

A US soldier was also killed on Friday and two others were missing after an attack on a checkpoint near the town of Youssifiyah, south of Baghdad, the US military said.

The first attack in the capital occurred when a mortar shell was fired at a market in a predominantly Shiite suburb, killing at least four people and wounding 13, police Captain Mohammed al-Waili said.

Nearly half an hour later, a bomb left in a plastic bag struck an outdoor market where secondhand goods are sold in central Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding 24, some seriously, police Lieutenant Ahmed Mohamed Ali said.

A roadside bomb yesterday morning in Karradah, a shopping area in downtown Baghdad, killed one civilian and wounded two, police Colonel Abbas Mohammed said.

About 20 minutes later, a car bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol in the same neighborhood killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded 10 people, including two civilians, police Lieutenant Ali Mitab said.

On Friday a suicide bomber targeting a Shiite imam who criticized Abu Musab al-Zarqawi blew himself up inside the Buratha mosque killing 13 people and wounding 28.

The mosque's imam, Jalal Eddin al-Sagheera, a leading Shiite politician, blamed al-Qaeda in Iraq for the attack. He said the terror group was trying to reassert itself after the death of its leader last week.

It was the second attack on the Buratha mosque in just over two months. On April 7, four suicide bombers set off their explosives during Friday prayers, killing at least 85 worshippers.

Al-Sagheer said the terror group had threatened to kill him in an Internet posting this week. A similar warning preceded the April attack, he said.

In other violence yesterday gunmen killed an Iraqi army colonel after engaging his guards in a gunfight. Four guards were wounded in the attack in Amarah. The bullet-riddled body of another Iraqi soldier was found elsewhere in the city.

Police also found two bodies, handcuffed and shot in the head, in separate areas of eastern Baghdad.
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