A powerful bomb killed more than 75 people in Baghdad overnight, casting doubt on the readiness of Iraq's security forces to control insurgents as US troops pull out.
The blast, the second in Iraq in less than a week to kill more than 70 people, happened six days before the June 30 deadline for US troops to retreat from urban outposts, the first of three withdrawal deadlines mandated under a security agreement.
The blast at the Mredi bird market in Sadr City, Baghdad's main Shiite neighborhood, occurred shortly after sundown when the area was crowded with residents out shopping after the summer day's scorching heat had subsided.
The explosives were concealed under vegetables in the carriage of a three-wheeled motorcycle parked at the edge of the market, which is off limits to vehicles, officials and witnesses said.
"I saw a big ball of fire," said Abu Ahmed, 50, who had been shopping. "We all dashed into the alleys, expecting another one to explode."
As the smoke began to clear, residents returned to the site to look for wounded people, who were loaded onto vehicles and wooden carts. About 20 minutes later, Iraqi soldiers arrived and began shooting in the air to disperse the crowd, witnesses said. Residents hurled insults, stones and shoes at the troops.
"People were very mad because they were very late," Abu Ahmed said of the soldiers. "They only sit on their chairs and watch people and play with cellphones."
Hospital officials at Imam Ali and Sadr hospitals, the area's two main medical centers, said in telephone interviews this morning that they had received at least 75 bodies. More than 100 people were wounded, hospital officials said.
The attack, the deadliest in Sadr City in more than a year, came just days after the US military closed its small outposts in the area at the Iraqi government's insistence.
"This is one of the biggest mistakes the US has made," said Kadhum Irboee al-Quraishi, a local leader in Sadr City who has worked closely with the Americans. "Assassinations will start again, and the terrorists are going to show that Iraqi forces are not capable of receiving responsibility."
Sadr City is the stronghold of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Militias loyal to al-Sadr controlled the area until the Iraqi army was deployed there in the spring of 2008 as part of a delicate negotiation between Sadrist leaders and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Al-Maliki and US commanders have said they expected the June 30 deadline to trigger an uptick in violence. Extremists, they say, are motivated by a desire to undermine the Iraqi government and to leave the impression that US forces are retreating as security deteriorates.
The bombing, like scores of similar attacks this year, targeted a mostly Shiite area. But unlike similar attacks in 2006 and 2007, the latest wave of bombings has not provoked retaliation by Shiite militias, a cycle that brought Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2007.
"This is no longer a sectarian war," Quraishi said. "This is now a political war. They are trying to topple Maliki's government." Al-Maliki, who is widely believed to be seeking reelection, has tied his political future to restoring security and weaning the country from its dependence on the US military.
Zainab Karim, a lawmaker from al-Sadr's parliamentary bloc, said the recent attacks are intended to widen political divisions ahead of national elections set for January.
"The message they want to deliver is that Iraqis are not capable of handling security in Sadr City," she said. "They're trying to pit the Sadr movement against the Iraqi government."
Earlier in the day, Brig. Gen. Stephen Lanza, the top US military spokesman in Iraq, said that the overall level of attacks remained low compared with other periods of the six-year war.
"There will be some challenges as we move out of the cities," he said.
BAGHDAD AP
