Death toll from Baghdad blasts reaches 31

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.

The explosions occurred mid-morning in a religiously mixed neighbourhood controlled by a major Shiite party, two days after President George Bush approved plans to send more US and Iraqi troops into the capital city to curb rising sectarian violence.