IRAQ: A car bomb and several mortars exploded in central Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 27 people and wounding 101 others, police sources said.
The car bomb in the shopping district of Karrada heavily damaged a building, raising fears the death toll could rise, said ministry of interior sources. The mortars landed nearby.
Although there have been bombings in Karrada before, the mostly Shia area has been one of the few relatively stable districts.
Nineteen bodies with bullet holes and signs of torture were found in different areas of Baghdad yesterday.
US and Iraqi forces have been focusing their efforts on stabilising Baghdad, racked by car bombs, suicide bombers and kidnappings.
The trial of ousted leader Saddam Hussein, whose loyalists are leading the insurgency against Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government, was adjourned yesterday until October 16th when a verdict, that can carry the death penalty, is expected to be delivered.
Mr al-Maliki told the US congress on Wednesday Iraq would "be the grave of terrorism and terrorists". Inside a tailor shop destroyed by the bomb, people tried to pull a young man from beneath a collapsed ceiling. A boy of 10 with a bloodied head lay on the floor a few feet away.
Hassan Kufi, one victim, was hours away from getting married yesterday. There were no festivities, just his funeral. Music blared and shots were fired in the air during the procession.
In Iraq, when a young man dies a bachelor, his family celebrates the funeral as if he just got married.
The US military may boost its force in Iraq by delaying the scheduled departure of some troops involved in routine rotations, officials said in Washington on Wednesday.
An average of 100 people a day have died in attacks in the past few weeks.