Military

Double Car Bombing in Central Baghdad Market Kills 75

By VOA News
22 January 2007

Iraqi officials say two nearly simultaneous car bomb blasts in a central Baghdad market have killed at least 75 people and wounded more than 150.

The explosions Monday tore through stalls of vendors and left charred bodies strewn around the market in the Bab al-Sharqi area.

It is the deadliest sectarian attack in Baghdad since 70 people were killed in a university bombing last Tuesday.

North of Baghdad, a bomb explosion killed at least 12 people today in a market near Baquba.

A surge of violence has occurred in recent days, as U.S. reinforcements arrive in Iraq as part of President Bush's controversial new security strategy.

In an interview with the newspaper, USA Today, Mr. Bush says he will not set a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq, because doing so would enable insurgents to adjust their tactics.

Iraq's ambassador to the U.S., Samir Sumaidaie, said in a separate interview Sunday with CNN's Late Edition program that the arrival of more U.S. troops in Iraq will give Baghdad a few more months to reform its security forces.

The ambassador warned that a pullout of U.S. troops would create a vacuum that benefits terrorists.

On Sunday, bomb attacks in Baghdad killed at least seven people. Two U.S. Marines also were killed in separate incidents in the western province of Al Anbar.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.