14 die in Baghdad market bomb

A CAR bomb left at least 14 people dead in Baghdad yesterday, while US troops chasing extremists in one of their last remaining bastions in central Iraq said they killed five al-Qaida gunmen.

At least one woman and a child were killed in the blast, a police officer said.

The popular market in Tayaran Square — a predominantly Shi’ite area that has been targeted by insurgents in the past — was full of shoppers heading home from Friday prayers.

The bombing comes at the end of a relatively quiet holiday period in Iraq’s capital.

But violence still plagues Diyala province north of Baghdad, where US commanders say many of the militants that held parts of the capital earlier this year have fled.

American and Iraqi troops have increased operations in Diyala in recent weeks.

The US military said it had killed four heavily armed gunmen tied to al-Qaida in Iraq in an operation yesterday near Muqdadiyah in Diyala. Another was killed in a mainly Sunni area south of Baghdad.

On Thursday, the US military said that it had killed 12 suspected terrorists and detained 37 others during a December 22-25 operation near Muqdadiyah.