Baghdad:Nine people were killed and 13 others injured in a car bomb explosion in a marketplace in the Iraqi capital Sunday, the interior ministry said. A booby-trapped car parked in a popular marketplace in the Shia neighbourhood of Bayaa blew up at about 1.10 p.m. (1010GMT) killing up to nine people and wounding 13 others, a ministry official said on condition of anonymity. The powerful blast also set fire to some ten cars nearby and destroyed several shops and stalls.
Iraqi security forces immediately sealed off the main roads leading to the scene while ambulances and civilians cars were seen evacuating the victims to hospitals, he added. "I heard a very loud explosion and saw a plume of black smoke rising over the market," Haitham, a shopowner in the market said. "It was so terrifying, there is blood and human flesh every where at the scene," he said. Sporadic attacks continue in Baghdad despite the US and Iraqi officials announcement of a relative lull in violence during the past few months.
