Iraqi blasts kill up to 12, injure 50 (Roundup)

May 6, 2009, 14:28 GMT

Baghdad - As many as 12 people were killed and another 50 injured Wednesday in terrorist attacks in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Kirkuk, police said.

A car bomb at a market in the southern Baghdad neighbourhood of al-Dura went off early Wednesday killing 12 and injuring another 44, police and witnesses said.

Witnesses also said the explosion caused a panic and crush in the market, where fruit and vegetable wholesalers for the city operate.

Another law enforcement source however told the German Press Agency dpa that only six people were killed. The source added that a second car bomb was found in the market but caused no casualties.

Al-Dura was a focus of sectarian fighting during the worst of the Iraqi civil war in 2006-2007, and was at times controlled by members of the international terrorist network al-Qaeda. The area had been relatively calm for the past 18 months.

Wednesday's attack was the third car bombing in Baghdad this week. On Monday, two bombs exploded in a car park near the Ministry of Oil, killing four and injuring seven.

An Iraqi member of parliament called for an immediate meeting to discuss the attacks.

Khairallah al-Basri, a Shiite member of the trans-sectarian Iraqi National List political coalition, told dpa that 'many internal and external parties are behind these explosions and we must intensify efforts to detect them.'

In Kirkuk, 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, a bomb struck an army patrol injuring six soldiers, two of them seriously, a police source said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Police arrested two suspects near the blast, the source added.