5 car bombings kill at least 48

Los Angeles Times

BAGHDAD — Five car bombs ripped through scattered neighborhoods across Baghdad late Wednesday, killing at least 48 people, wounding scores more and further raising concerns that a new wave of violence is threatening the security gains of the past 18 months.

The bloodiest attack came in the late afternoon in the Shiite Muslim enclave of Sadr City in northeastern Baghdad, where two bombs exploded almost simultaneously, killing at least 41 and wounding 78. The bombs exploded within 15 minutes of one another and about 400 yards apart at an outdoor flea market and a nearby restaurant, at a time when the market is typically packed with people.

A third car rigged with explosives was found by police in the vicinity and safely defused.

A little less than an hour later an explosion in the southern neighborhood of Dora killed five people. Two more were later killed by a bomb in a car parked outside a Shiite mosque in the western neighborhood of Hurriya. A fifth blast in the southern neighborhood of Shorta Rabaa wounded six.

Three other car bombs were found and defused elsewhere in the city, suggesting a coordinated effort.

The bombings come just days after the deaths of nearly 160 people in a 24-hour period late last week marked the worst surge of violence in a year. The attacks in recent days, all targeting Shiite civilians, have raised fears that the Sunni insurgency is regrouping for a fresh campaign of violence that could trigger Shiite retaliation and reignite the sectarian warfare that only recently subsided.

U.S. troops are due to withdraw from Iraq’s cities by the end of June, and the attacks also have deepened concerns that the Iraqi security forces are not up to taking charge from the departing Americans.

Iraqi officials have blamed al-Qaida in Iraq, operating in tandem with former remnants of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, for the recent uptick in violence. Last week’s bombings were suicide attacks, typically a hallmark of al-Qaida in Iraq, but the provenance of the car bombings is murkier and could be traced to any number of factions.

Survivors of the bloody carnage in Sadr City turned their wrath on the security forces, hurling bottles and bricks at police and army troops until soldiers fired in the air to disperse them. Witnesses said they blamed the Iraqi army, which controls the area, for the lapses in security that allowed three cars laden with bombs to enter what should be a closely guarded civilian market.

“The army is not playing its role,” said Sabah Mohammed, 45, a salesman who was on his way to the market to buy a tracksuit when the bombs exploded. “When the army first came to Sadr City I was happy, but now all they care about is hitting on girls and women. They don’t inspect incoming cars. They only inspect them if there are women inside.”

“How is this possible?” asked Adnan Dawood, 35, a furniture shop owner who tried to flee the first of the two blasts and then was knocked unconscious by the second.

“There are three entrances to Sadr City and all are overseen by army checkpoints,” he said, speaking by telephone from his hospital bed. “What is the army doing? Are they there for only oppressing and arresting people?”