A top Iraqi insurgent leader today claimed in an audiotape posted online that his al-Qaida-linked group had begun manufacturing its own rockets.

A mortar barrage followed minutes later by a car bomb struck Baghdad’s upscale Karradah district today, killing 31 people and wounding 153, police said.

A mortar barrage followed minutes later by a car bomb struck Baghdad’s upscale Karradah district today, killing a total of 27 people and wounding 63, police said.

More than 50 Iraqis died today in violence including a car bombing that killed 25 people in the third major attack on a police station in three days.