The Hindu : Front Page : 64 killed in Baghdad twin blasts

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64 killed in Baghdad twin blasts

Atul Aneja

DUBAI: Two bomb blasts in Baghdad on Friday killed at least 64 persons — the highest death toll since the middle of 2007 when American forces were beefed up in Iraq.

Forty-six persons were killed in an explosion caused by a woman suicide bomber in a busy animal market.

Twenty minutes later, the second explosion rocked another crowded market area of Jadida in eastern Baghdad, killing at least 18 persons and injuring around 80.

The police and medical staff piled up the dead and the injured in wheelbarrows, pick-up trucks and cars, and took them to the five main hospitals in the city. The Al Kindi hospital alone received at least 30 bodies.

The twin blasts have dented the creeping sense of normality in Iraq. Analysts point out that violence had diminished partly on account of the decision by the Mahdi militia loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr to observe a ceasefire against American troops in August. Some of the Sunni tribes also reportedly decided to target Al Qaeda affiliates in Iraq, thereby bringing down violence.

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