A car bomb exploded yesterday in a crowded cattle market south of Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and injuring 45 others, Iraqi police and medical officials said.
The parked car exploded at the height of the morning’s business at the market on the outskirts of Hillah, 95km south of Baghdad, Iraqi police Major Muthana Khalid said.
The blast scattered bodies and animal carcasses throughout the market, a witness said.
While violence has declined dramatically in Iraq during the past 18 months, there are growing concerns about a possible upward trend in bloodshed after a series of high-profile attacks on civilians and US and Iraqi security forces in recent weeks.
All the dead and injured in yesterday’s bombing were civilians, Khalid said. Hussam al-Janabi, a medical official in Hillah, confirmed the casualty figures.
Markets, mosques and religious shrines have been a favorite target of insurgents in Iraq because of the possibility of high casualty counts.
Dozens of cattle merchants, farmers, butchers and buyers were at the market in Hamza al-Gharbi, a mostly Shiite community a short distance from Hillah, when the bomb exploded.
The market operates daily but is at its busiest yesterday and today, cattle merchant Rajab Abdul-Hussein said.
Mohammed Abbas, a butcher, described a grisly scene of bodies and animal carcasses strewn throughout the market in the aftermath of the bombing.
“Blood and meat were everywhere,” Abbas said.
Witnesses told police the blast came from a car parked near the market’s main thoroughfare.
The Hillah area has been the site of many deadly bombings, including one of the worst attacks in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion.
In February 2005, a suicide car bomber killed 125 national guard and police recruits in Hillah.
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