50 die in car bomb carnage
2007-01-22 13:03
Baghdad - Two car bombs ripped through a second-hand market in Baghdad on Monday, killing 50 people in the latest carnage to strike the Iraqi capital despite a new make-or-break US security plan.
The bombings, which also wounded 69 people, came as US military continued to suffer heavy casualties, with 46 personnel killed since the start of the month.
Twenty-five US troops died in a single day on Saturday, including 12 in a helicopter crash, one of the highest death tolls since the US-led invasion of March 2003.
The car bombs exploded simultaneously in central Baghdad's Haraj second-hand market shortly after midday and sent twin columns of thick smoke billowing skywards, followed by sporadic gunfire.
Security plan
Insurgents have stepped up attacks across the Iraqi capital as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and US authorities put in place a new security plan to secure the capital.
As part of the plan, about 3 200 new US troops have already landed in Baghdad to be deployed in various districts where a raging sectarian conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead since last year.
The key element of the new plan - announced by US President George W Bush last month - is to crack down on militias engaged in the communal bloodletting.
Iraqi and US officials maintain that equipped with powers under the new plan, the US military would take on the militia loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.