Sunni group claims deadly Baghdad blast

Residents dug through wrecked buildings today in a predominantly Shia neighbourhood of Baghdad devastated by explosions that killed at least 47 people.

Iraqis blamed bombs and rockets, but US military experts pointed to a gas explosion.

US ordnance teams went to the Zafraniyah neighbourhood and found “no evidence” of anything other than a “significant gas explosion” followed by subsequent blasts related to a gas leak, the US military spokesman, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, said.

Iraqi officials insisted the damage was caused by car bombs and a rocket barrage fired from Dora, a mostly Sunni district and was evidence that sectarian violence in the capital shows no sign of stopping despite an additional 12,000 US and Iraqi troops rushed in to enforce peace.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office said 47 people were killed and 100 injured.

A Sunni extremist group, the al-Sahaba Soldiers, claimed responsibility in a statement posted on the internet. It said its fighters exploded two booby trapped cars and fired mortar shells, killing “more than 50 malicious Shias.”