Dozens die in Baghdad market blasts

Two car bombs kill at least 59 people and wound more than 140.

baghdad bomb
Residents are taken to al-Kindi hospital [Reuters]

People on fire

 

A column of smoke hundreds of feet wide billowed into the air above the market near the east bank of the Tigris river and near the Central Bank building.

 

Ambulances and trucks took the wounded to nearby al-Kindi hospital in the largely Shia region that has been hit by a series of deadly bombings since the first of the year.

 

A cameraman at the scene saw people on fire and more than 30 ambulances arriving.

 

The two car bombs, which occurred within 100m of each other, collapsed a building and set shops and market stalls on fire.

 

The Samarra attack by al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2006 set off a torrent of sectarian bloodletting that has turned Baghdad and much of central Iraq into a battleground.

Source: News Agencies