By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Dozens of heavily armed attackers fired rifles and rocket-propelled grenades in a rampage through an open air market Monday in the town of Mahmoudiya south of Baghdad, killing at least 15 people and wounding 25, police said. Most of the victims were believed to be Shi'ites.
Some reports put the death toll much higher. Dr. Dawoud al-Taie, director of the local hospital said 35 people were killed and 40 wounded, but a Shi'ite television station, Al-Forat, said 72 people had died.
Iraqi soldiers sealed off the area.