Seven killed, 30 wounded by car bomb in Baghdad

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A car bomb exploded in northern Baghdad on Saturday, killing seven passers-by and wounding dozens of others in an apparent sectarian attack near the capital's most important Shi'ite shrine. The noontime attack in Kazimiyah came even as parts of Baghdad were shut down to vehicular traffic in an effort to protect Shiite pilgrims leaving for an annual religious commemoration in the southern city of Karbala next week. A medic at the local hospital said seven people were killed in the explosion and 30 others were wounded. No group claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell on Sunni religious extremists who consider Shi'ites as heretics and collaborators with the Americans.