Bombs hit pet market in Baghdad, killing five and wounding 57

TWO bombs struck in quick succession at a pet market in Baghdad yesterday, killing at least five people and wounding 57.

The attack followed an appeal by the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq urging Sunnis to confront Shi’ites and ignore calls for national reconciliation.

The explosives were left in bags at the entrance and the centre of the al-Ghazil market, Lieutenant Ahmed Muhammad Ali said.

About 10 minutes later, an explosion near a Shi’ite mosque in the eastern Baghdad neighbourhood of Jadida killed two civilians and injured five.

In the southern city of Basra, Sheik Ismat Youniss was gunned down as he was walking to his Shi’ite mosque for Friday prayers.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a state of emergency on Wednesday in the oil-rich city, but attacks persisted as the sectarian and militia violence engulfing the country’s capital spread to its southern economic heartland.

Gunmen also killed an Egyptian ice-cream vendor in his shop in Amarah, 290 kilometres south-east of Baghdad.

An audiotape purportedly from al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi sought to rally the Sunni Arab minority, alleging Shi’ite militias are killing and raping Sunnis.

In the four-hour tape, posted on a website often used by the group, he denounced top Shi’ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani as an “atheist”.

“Oh Sunni people, wake up, pay attention and prepare to confront the poisons of the Shi’ite snakes who are afflicting you with all agonies since the invasion of Iraq until our day. Forget about those advocating the end of sectarianism and calling for national unity,” al-Zarqawi said.

The authenticity of the audiotape could not be independently confirmed.