A car bomb exploded in front of a photo shop where a wedding party had gathered in a southern Baghdad neighborhood Thursday killing at least eight people and wounding 20, police said.
The blast in the Shiite district of Abu Dshir went off at 6:45 p.m. while dozens of relatives and friends of a bride and a groom waited as the couple walked in to take a wedding picture, according to police. The couple were not hurt but most of the killed and wounded were from those waiting outside, a police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
The official said that women and children were among the victims. Abu Dshir is a Shiite enclave in Baghdad's lawless, mainly Sunni neighborhood of Dora. Explosions and mortar attacks in the area have been common in the past months leaving hundreds of people killed or wounded. |