almotamar.net Google - BAGHDAD — Twin bombs struck two markets in central Baghdad on Friday, killing dozens in the worst attack in the Iraqi capital for many months.
Iraqis mourning relatives killed in a suicide bombing in Baghdad on Friday.
One hit the Ghazil pet market, the scene of a deadly bombing in November that killed 13 people.
The second hit minutes later and barely two miles away at the New Baghdad pet market. Both markets are on the east side of the Tigris River, and both are in mainly Shiite areas. But they are popular with both Shiites and Sunnis.
Early reports put the death toll from both attacks at more than 50. The bombings were carried out by women wearing explosive vests, witnesses said.
American military commanders have noted in recent months that in areas where there are many checkpoints, insurgents have begun using suicide vests instead of vehicles to carry out bombings because they are easier to sneak past road blocks and barriers.
Ghazil is closed to most vehicles by head-high concrete blast barriers. The New Baghdad market has guards and barbed wire, but no blast walls.
At the New Baghdad market, army units sealed off the area and set up checkpoints after the explosion. Bloodstained feathers mixed with melting sleet. At a popular roadside bird market, stall holders said a woman blew herself up around 10:30 a.m., just as they were getting news of the Ghazil bombing a few minutes earlier.
“We were just talking about the first bomb when it happened,” said Abbas Muhammad Awad, 54, a pigeon seller. “There was not enough time for people to leave because it was only 5 or 10 minutes between the bombs.”
The Associated Press quoted police officials saying that the death toll at Ghazil was at least 46 people. Witnesses said that attack happened around 10:15 a.m. The explosion at the New Baghdad market killed at least 18 people and wounded 25, The A.P. reported.
The Ghazil market has been a regular target. It was struck a year ago in January, and 15 people died. But in the fall, after months of increased American troop presence, the market had seemed to regain some of its vitality. Last November’s deadly attack, in the crowded bazaar in the shadow of the Mosque of the Caliphs, caused a scene of carnage, and was a cruel reminder that security gains in this city are fragile.
At the New Baghdad market on Friday, Yahya Omran, 50, who is scarred in several places from a previous attack on the market, complained that despite repeated requests, the authorities had failed to erect the kind of concrete blast wall that has been put up to protect other markets.
“I came back to work here because I have to pay rent and I need to support my family,” he said. “I thought everything was starting to get better, but then this happened. I think things are going to get worse. It’s chaos.”