By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A car bomb exploded Wednesday at the entrance to a fruit and vegetable market in south Baghdad, killing 11 people and wounding about 30, police and hospital officials said.
The blast, which occurred about 7 a.m. at the Rasheed market in the city's southern Dora area, follows a sharp rise in attacks in Iraq last month, raising concern that militants have regrouped after suffering sharp setbacks in fighting over the last two years.
Most of the recent bombings have taken place in Shiite areas, suggesting Sunni terrorists such as al-Qaida in Iraq are responsible. The Rasheed market is in a mainly Sunni area but the farmers who bring their crops there are predominantly Shiites.
Kamil Lahmoud, a Shiite farmer from Mahmoudiya, said he had just sold his produce and was inside an office collecting his money when the blast happened.
"I was injured slightly in my head and left hand," he said. "I went out and saw many people covered with blood and bodies scattered everywhere."