At least two people were killed and 20 injured in a bombing in southern Baghdad on Friday morning, an Interior Ministry official told CNN.
The bomb exploded in a market in Dora district, the official said. The market is usually crowded in the morning with poor farmers selling their produce. Residents in the area have complained to CNN about lax security after the market was repeatedly struck by bombings in recent months. The attack follows a series of bombings on Thursday that left four dead and dozens injured in Babil province south of Baghdad. The five blasts struck crowded streets within one hour. At least 100 people were killed and more than 500 wounded Wednesday in six explosions in the capital, which included two massive suicide truck bombs that targeted Iraqi ministries. In one attack, a truck bomb exploded outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The blast blew through the front of the building, sending some vehicles flying and leaving others in mangled twists of metal in the area, which is just outside the restricted International Zone, also known as the Green Zone. Another truck bomb went off outside the Ministry of Finance building. Eleven high-ranking security officials from the Iraqi army and police were detained for investigation Thursday.
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Wednesday’s explosions marked the country’s deadliest day since the United States pulled its combat troops from Iraqi cities and towns nearly two months ago and left security in the hands of the Iraqis. Watch report on Iraq’s deadliest day ยป The U.S. military remains in a training and advisory capacity in those areas and continues to conduct combat operations outside cities and towns. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has called for the implementation of increased security measures, including more checkpoints and more stringent vehicle searches across the capital, government officials told CNN on Thursday.
The Iraqi government has been trying to restore what it described as normalcy to the streets of the capital in recent weeks. Al-Maliki ordered his government to take down within 40 days the concrete blast walls that line Baghdad’s streets and protected neighborhoods at the height of the war. Many Iraqis have criticized the move as premature.
