IRAQ:A bomb hidden in a box of birds killed 13 people and wounded 57 at a popular pet market in central Baghdad yesterday, police and witnesses said, describing the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital in two months, writes Paul Taitin Baghdad.
Body parts were strewn among bird carcasses as bystanders piled victims into carts and rushed them to ambulances after the blast at the crowded Ghazil market.
Police also said that three suspected al-Qaeda militants, including two sisters, beheaded their uncle and his wife, forcing the couple's children to watch.
The militants considered that school guard Youssef al-Hayali was an infidel because he did not pray and wore western-style trousers, they told police interrogators after being arrested in Diyala province northwest of Baghdad.
The market attack was the worst since 32 people were killed by twin car bombs in the predominantly Shia district of Bayaa in southwestern Baghdad on September 26th, and could dent new-found confidence among Iraqis that security is getting better.
In the northern city of Mosul, two separate bombings killed nine people, including six policemen, police said.
Levels of violence have fallen across Iraq in recent months, with the US military saying attacks were down by 55 per cent since an extra 30,000 US troops became fully deployed in mid-June.
With the lull in bloodshed, something approaching normal life has started to return to Baghdad. Thousands of Iraqis have also been returning home after fleeing the violence.
People have been going to markets and restaurants at night, unheard of at the height of the violence. - (Reuters)