A bomb hidden in a box carrying pigeons struck a crowded animal market in central Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens, officials and witnesses said.
The explosive device was hidden in a box when it detonated at about 10am at the Souq al-Ghazl, which attracts buyers, sellers and farmers peddling birds, dogs, cats, sheep and goats and exotic animals like snakes and monkeys.
Police and hospital officials said at least 15 people were killed and 35 were wounded.
PHOTO: AP
A witness said a man arrived with an egg carton containing pigeons for sale, but it exploded after he walked away to get a drink, tearing through the potential buyers gathering around the box.
"I was about 60m from the blast," said Raad Hassan, a frequent customer at the market.
"My friends and I rushed to the scene where we saw burned dead bodies, pieces of flesh and several dead expensive puppies and birds," he said.
Ali Nassir said dead animals were scattered on the blood-soaked ground and several snakes, monkeys and birds had been let loose from their cages as ambulances and police cars converged on the scene.
"The policemen are firing in the air in order to disperse the crowds of people arriving to find out what happened to relatives who were missing," he said.
"The explosion was huge and happened in a crowded place," he added.
An 18-year-old homing pigeon vendor who was wounded expressed frustration at the unrelenting violence in the capital.
"I went this morning to the animal market to earn some money and to entertain myself, instead I was hit by the explosion and lost consciousness, my pigeons and my mobile phone," Sajad Abdel-Jabar said from his hospital bed.
The al-Ghazl market, or Spinning Market, also was attacked in early June, when two bombings struck in quick succession, killing at least five people, as insurgents often strike commercial targets to maximize the casualties.
The popular market stands on the eastern side of the Tigris river next to the famous 13th century Sunni Ulama Mosque that was built by the Abbasid dynasty. The shops around the mosque used to be for its spinning mills but the area transformed into an animal market a few decades ago.
Police also raised the casualty toll in a suicide car bombing that struck the central Shiite neighborhood of Karradah on Thursday, saying 30 people were killed and 61 wounded.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported yesterday that US soldiers have been authorized to kill or capture Iranian operatives found in Iraq, citing US government and counterterrorism officials.
The authorization covers Iranian Revolutionary Guard and intelligence officers found in Iraq, but not Iranian civilians or diplomats, the Post reported.
Back in the US a third soldier was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Thursday after pleading guilty in the deaths of three Iraqi detainees, officials at Fort Campbell in Kentucky said.
Private first class Corey Clagett, 22, had entered into a plea agreement at the start of his court-martial on the military base.
The slayings occurred in May last year. Clagett, of Moncks Corner, South Carolina, pleaded guilty to attempted premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit premeditated murder, premeditated murder, conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice.
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