BAGHDAD — A car bomb exploded near a crowded market in a mainly Shiite area of Baghdad today, killing more than 20 civilians, Iraqi officials said, in the sixth major attack in Iraq this month.
The blast occurred a day after the U.S. military said overall attacks nationwide have fallen to levels of the early months of the war, which began with the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
While the numbers of attacks are down dramatically, the recent uptick in high-profile bombings indicates insurgents could be trying to regroup as the Americans hand over more responsibility to the Iraqis ahead of a complete withdrawal by the end of 2011.
The targets, which have included a police academy, markets and a funeral, indicate the militants are choosing their targets to maximize the number of casualties as the war enters its seventh year.
The explosives-laden car was parked behind concrete barriers surrounding a private hospital near a bus stop and shops in the eastern Shaab district, the officials said.
Apples and oranges were scattered on the ground with pools of blood and twisted, blackened metal, according to AP Television News footage. Children with bloodied faces cried as they were treated by doctors in the packed hospital emergency room. One boy had lost part of his scalp.
Nadhum Mohammed Talib, a 21-year-old college student, said he was walking home from the bus stop when the blast shook the area and set several cars on fire.
“I fell to the ground and saw a huge fireball with smoke that covered the area,” he said. “I feel sad that violence is coming back.”
As is common following bombings in Iraq, there were conflicting casualty tolls.
An Interior Ministry official said 22 civilians were killed and 48 wounded, while area police and hospital officials put the toll at 26 killed and 37 wounded.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, confirmed the attack but said preliminary reports indicated eight people were killed and 14 were wounded. Iraqi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi’s office said eight people were killed and 12 wounded.
Shaab is a former Shiite militia stronghold that has seen a sharp drop in violence since anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr declared a cease-fire amid a crackdown by the U.S. and Iraqi militaries.
But the U.S. military has warned that it expects an increasingly desperate al-Qaida in Iraq and other Sunni insurgents to try to re-ignite the brutal sectarian violence that drove the country to the brink of civil war.
A bomb attached to a car exploded elsewhere in eastern Baghdad today, wounding four people, police said.
U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. David Perkins said Wednesday that attacks have fallen from an average of 1,250 per week at the height of the violence to around fewer than 100 a week.
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