Bombs kill 13 people and wound 100 in Baghdad market

At least 13 people died and over 100 were injured Friday when two bombs exploded at a market in Baghdad, said Iraqi police and hospital sources, the latest attack against Shiite Muslims. A wave of attacks this month, mostly against Shiite pilgrims and shrines, has killed more than 130 people and raised fears Iraq could plunge back into a sectarian bloodshed, the same type peaked in 2006 and 2007. Tensions are high after the U.S. troops left the country in December, with Shiite and Sunni political factions vying for power. The first explosion hit Husseiniya, a market in a mainly Shiite area on the outskirts of Baghdad where people were buying groceries and other goods, the sources said. The second blast occurred shortly thereafter when the security forces and the people were gathered on site to treat victims of the first attack. - Fruits and vegetables were thrown everywhere. Some children were injured - Mudhaffar said Khalaf, a police officer on the spot - We started to evacuate the wounded. Also Friday, gunmen using silenced weapons in a speeding car fired on a police checkpoint in the neighborhood of Bayaa in southwestern Baghdad, killing three policemen, according to local police and hospital officials. Three civilians were also wounded when a bomb exploded near a military checkpoint in Mosul, according to a local police source.