Iraq: 13 dead, 27 wounded in car bomb

Earlier, roadside bomb misses US patrol in Dora, hits minibus instead; one passenger killed, 12 hurt.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Iraq bomb 224.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
Iraq bomb 224.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
A car bomb killed 13 people Friday in a market in a Shi'ite enclave of southern Baghdad, police and hospital officials said. At least 27 people were wounded. Two police officers said the car exploded at 4:30 p.m. in the main market area of Abu Dshir, a Shi'ite part of the majority Sunni neighborhood of Dora, a former insurgent stronghold. The casualties included women and children, they said. The policemen and officials at two hospitals who gave casualty figures spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. Security has improved in the area over the last year largely because Sunnis once hostile to the government joined with US-led forces to chase out al-Qaida in Iraq and other extremists. Still, security in the area is by no means certain. Hussein Ali, 37, said he was accompanying his wife to the doctor across the street when the blast occurred. "What a horrible catastrophe, I do believe that my face will remain pale for a long time," he said. "I believed that my wife was dead when she fell on the ground. I thought shrapnel hit her body, but later on ... I thanked God that she was unconscious." Haider Kadhum, a 21-year-old grocer said he was inside his shop just a few yards (meters) from the blast site. "Targeting innocent people is a cowardly act," he said. "It is against the will of God who created people." Earlier Friday, police said a roadside bomb missed a US patrol on a highway in Dora, hitting a minibus instead. Police said one passenger was killed and 12 civilians were wounded. The US military was aware of 10 civilians wounded but none killed, said Maj. Mark Cheadle, a spokesman for US forces in Baghdad.