Nine killed, over 40 wounded in new bombings in Iraq (Roundup)

Jun 25, 2009, 13:46 GMT

   Baghdad - Nine people, including four civilians, were killed in two bombings in Iraq on Thursday, a day after a devastating bomb attack in Sadr City that killed 74.

   In Baghdad's Shiite district Bayaa, a bomb blast killed four persons and wounded another 32 at a bus station, police said.

   In the western Iraqi city of Falluja, five Iraqi soldiers were killed when an explosive device blew up while they were on patrol, security sources said.

   Nine further soldiers were wounded in the attack.

   Meanwhile the death toll in Wednesday's massive terror bombing in a market of eastern Baghdad's Shiite district of Sadr City rose to 74, a security forces spokesman said. Another 150 persons were wounded.

   According to eyewitness accounts, the bomb was apparently concealed beneath a motorcycle which was loaded with fruit. It was the worst single bombing attack in the Iraqi capital in a year.

   The wave of bombings raises further concerns about the security situation in Iraq ahead of the targeted June 30 pullout of US forces from Iraqi cities and towns.

   Prior to the Sadr City bombing on Wednesday, a huge bomb killed 65 persons in a Shiite mosque near the northern city of Kirkuk on Saturday June 20. After Saturday's attack, radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr blamed 'the US occupiers' for the terrorism.

Meanwhile, the commander of US troops in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, and US Ambassador Christopher Hill released a statement condemning the 'senseless deaths and injuries of innocent Iraqi citizens' in the attack on Sadr City market.

'We join the Iraqi people in denouncing all acts of terrorism, and remain steadfast in our support of the people and government of Iraq in their pursuit of peace, justice and democracy,' they said.