BAGHDAD - More than 30 people were killed in Baghdad yesterday when a suicide bomber blew herself up amid a crowd that had gathered in the aftermath of an earlier explosion.
The twin blasts - the deadliest in the city in months - came moments apart, during the morning rush hour in the mostly Shia Kasrah section of the Azamiyah district in the northern part of the Iraqi capital.
Police said the first explosion damaged a minibus carrying young girls to school. The second happened when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt in the middle of a crowd that had gathered around the vehicle.
The interior ministry said 31 people died and 71 were wounded.
It was thought extremists may have been sending a message to US president-elect Barack Obama about "the real situation in Iraq", pressuring the government not to sign a new security agreement with the US or attempting to embarrass the ruling parties ahead of regional elections in January.
The blasts shattered storefronts along the crowded street and set more than a dozen cars on fire.
Abbas Fadhil (45) was working in a nearby restaurant. "I rushed to the site and saw several girl students trapped in a bus and screaming for help. We took the girls outside the bus and rushed them to the hospitals," he said, standing in front of the damaged restaurant, his white shirt soaked with blood.
"This is a criminal act that targeted innocent people who were heading to work and school while the politicians are busy with their personal greed and ambitions," Mr Fadhil added.
A still unratified security agreement with the US would keep US soldiers in Iraq until 2012.
Mr Obama has pledged to withdraw all combat troops within 16 months of taking office on January 20th, although he has said he would consult with the Iraqi government and US commanders. - (AP)