Dozens killed, wounded in Iraq violence

August 8, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

BAGHDAD

Explosions killed at least 20 people and wounded as many as 100 Saturday night at a downtown market in Iraq’s second-largest city, coming at the end of a violent day that also saw the slaying of seven policemen around the country.

It was the latest spate of attacks to come as all but 50,000 U.S. military troops head home by the end of the month

Officials differed over the cause of the blasts that came within minutes of each other at the al-Ashaar market in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Two police officials said a roadside bomb and a car packed with explosives caused the explosions.

But Basra Police Chief Adil Daham said the explosions were caused by a malfunctioning power generator.

Television footage showed bloodied bodies being loaded into ambulances amid hysterical bystanders, some of whom blamed Iraq’s stalled government for the bloodshed.

Five months after parliamentary elections that failed to produce a clear winner, Iraq’s leaders have yet to form a new government — sparking angst and anger across the country.

In the most dramatic of the attacks Saturday on Iraqi security troops, gunmen killed five policemen in an overnight shootout that lasted until dawn at a suspected bomb workshop in western Baghdad, security officials said.

After the shootout, police found one dead gunman and explosives materials in the house and a minibus packed with explosives in the garage.