Suicide bombers kill 60 in Baghdad market

03/29/2007

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least 60 people were killed and 41 others were wounded Thursday when two suicide bombers wearing explosive vests self-detonated in a crowded market in a Shiite district in the northeastern part of the capital.

"It was a very, very crowded market. All those killed are innocent," a man who was wounded in the explosion told Reuters news agency.

"There were two car bombs and people started dying. I saw heads separated from the bodies and legs blown off," Wissam Hashim Ali, 27, told Reuters from the hospital.

Meanwhile, in a town north of Baghdad, three car bombings killed at least 30 people and wounded 74 others Thursday, police said.

Khalis, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of the Iraqi capital, is a predominantly Shiite town in Diyala province, which has been the scene of much violence in the Iraq war.

Five people were killed and 18 others were wounded in a car bombing in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Baghdad. The explosion occurred in the parking lot of a bus station.

A roadside bomb detonated in southern Baghdad's Bayaa area, killing two civilians and wounding six others. The site is near a busy street lined with markets.

Another car bomb exploded in the southwest Baghdad neighborhood of Amil, killing four police officers and one civilian and wounding nine security force members. The explosives detonated when police went to investigate a body in the car. Police suspect insurgents planted the body to lure officers into the attack.

The blasts reflect what U.S. military officials have been saying is a recent trend -- an increase in car bombing attacks by al Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni-dominated movement.

Insurgents attempted to shoot Baghdad's head of traffic police in the capital's northern neighborhood of Qahira. Two guards were killed and two others were wounded.

Also Thursday, U.S.-led coalition troops killed four insurgents during a raid in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the U.S. military said.

"Ground forces entered a targeted building and were fired upon by four armed men. Ground forces returned fire, killing the armed terrorists," the military said. Two people were detained in the operation.

Other raids netted nine detainees in Baghdad, two northwest of Haditha in Anbar province and two others south of Falluja, west of the capital.

In Baghdad, the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, was sworn in Thursday.

Crocker, who had been the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, replaces Zalmay Khalilzad, who is expected to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

"We have a historic challenge ahead of us," Crocker said. "Terrorists, insurgents and militias continue to threaten security in Baghdad and around the country. Security is without question the central issue."