SIXTY people were killed in a suicide bomb attack at a Baghdad market today, in the deadliest attack since the start of a security crackdown in the Iraqi capital. Two police sources put the death toll at 60, with dozens more wounded, and said the blast was caused by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest.Agence France-Presse reported that security officials said two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the popular Shallal market in Baghdad's Al-Shaab district, while one witness told Reuters there were two blasts which he thought were car bombs. “It was a very, very crowded market. All those killed are innocent,” said Wissam Hashim Ali, 27, one of the wounded who was shopping at the market. “There were two car bombs and people started dying,” he told Reuters from the hospital.
Shaab is very close to Sadr City, a Shiite militia stronghold in north-east Baghdad that has frequently been targeted by major car bombs blamed by the government on al-Qaeda and other Sunni Arab insurgents.