64 killed in Baghdad bombings

BAGHDAD – Three bomb attacks at markets in Baghdad killed at least 64 people and wounded 150 yesterday as Iraqis marked the first anniversary of a Shi’ite shrine bombing that pitched the country to the brink of civil war.

In the deadliest attack, police said two car bombs exploded in quick succession in Shorja wholesale market in central Baghdad, killing at least 59 people. A Reuters cameraman saw people on fire and more than 30 ambulances arriving.The car bombs set a building that houses clothes shops ablaze, as well as other shops in the street and more than a dozen cars, another Reuters reporter said.The blasts echoed across central Baghdad and sent huge clouds of thick black smoke into the air.At the Bab al-Sharji market, also in central Baghdad and home to Sunni Arab and Shi’ite traders, at least five people were killed when a roadside bomb exploded, police sources said.Both markets have been bombed before.Iraq’s top Shi’ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, urged followers yesterday not to seek revenge against Sunni Arabs on the first anniversary under the Islamic calendar of the bombing of the al-Askari shrine in Samarra.Sistani said the bombing, blamed on Sunni militants, had plunged Iraq into a cycle of “blind violence”.Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in a wave of sectarian attacks triggered by the destruction of the al-Askari mosque, one of the holiest in Shi’ite Islam.Hundreds of thousands have been displaced to flee sectarian cleansing.”We call on the believers as they mark this sad occasion and express their feelings …to exercise maximum levels of restraint and not to do or say anything which would harm our Sunni brothers who are innocent for what happened and who do not accept it,” Sistani said in a statement marking the one-year anniversary of the bombing under the Islamic calendar.The reclusive Sistani, who lives in the holy city of Najaf, is regarded as a voice of moderation.Sistani, who heads the Shi’ite religious establishment, or Marjaiya, has repeatedly urged Shi’ites not to get sucked into sectarian conflict.Nampa-ReutersA Reuters cameraman saw people on fire and more than 30 ambulances arriving.The car bombs set a building that houses clothes shops ablaze, as well as other shops in the street and more than a dozen cars, another Reuters reporter said.The blasts echoed across central Baghdad and sent huge clouds of thick black smoke into the air.At the Bab al-Sharji market, also in central Baghdad and home to Sunni Arab and Shi’ite traders, at least five people were killed when a roadside bomb exploded, police sources said.Both markets have been bombed before.Iraq’s top Shi’ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, urged followers yesterday not to seek revenge against Sunni Arabs on the first anniversary under the Islamic calendar of the bombing of the al-Askari shrine in Samarra.Sistani said the bombing, blamed on Sunni militants, had plunged Iraq into a cycle of “blind violence”.Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in a wave of sectarian attacks triggered by the destruction of the al-Askari mosque, one of the holiest in Shi’ite Islam.Hundreds of thousands have been displaced to flee sectarian cleansing.”We call on the believers as they mark this sad occasion and express their feelings …to exercise maximum levels of restraint and not to do or say anything which would harm our Sunni brothers who are innocent for what happened and who do not accept it,” Sistani said in a statement marking the one-year anniversary of the bombing under the Islamic calendar.The reclusive Sistani, who lives in the holy city of Najaf, is regarded as a voice of moderation.Sistani, who heads the Shi’ite religious establishment, or Marjaiya, has repeatedly urged Shi’ites not to get sucked into sectarian conflict.Nampa-Reuters