Bombings continue after massive attack on Baghdad market

A string of bombings killed 10 people in the Baghdad area today and the US announced a marine had died in fighting west of the Iraqi capital.

The deaths followed massive car bomb attack in a Shiite area market which delivered the first major blow to a US-led security crackdown.

Five people died and 11 were wounded when a bomb exploded on a public bus heading for the mostly Shiite area of Karradah in central Baghdad, police reported.

In south-eastern Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed three policemen in the Shiite area of Zafraniyah, wounding two other people, including a civilian.

In Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of the capital, a car bomb went off among car repair shops, killing two and wounding two, police said.

Mahmoudiya is mostly Shiite with Sunnis living in villages around the community and has long been a flashpoint for sectarian violence.

The scattered blasts, which occurred during the morning rush hour, occurred one day after a massive car bomb attack in an outdoor market, delivering the first major blow against a US-led security clampdown in Baghdad.

Police said at least 63 people died in the attack in the mostly Shiite area of New Baghdad. Scores were injured as extremists sent a bloody calling card to officials boasting that militant factions were on the run.

Elsewhere, the US military announced that a US Marine was killed during combat operations in Anbar province, a Sunni insurgent hotspot west of the capital.

The latest attacks were a sobering reminder of the huge challenges confronting any effort to rattle the well-armed and well-hidden insurgents.

Just a few hours before the weekend blasts, Lt. Gen. Abboud Qanbar led reporters on a tour of the neighbourhood near the marketplace and promised to “chase the terrorists out of Baghdad.”

On Saturday, the Iraqi spokesman for the plan, Brig. Gen. Qassim Moussawi, said violence had plummeted 80% in the capital.

Prime minister Nouri Maliki condemned the bombing as a desperate act by “terrorists” and “criminals” who sensed they were being squeezed.

“These crimes confirm the defeat of these perpetrators and their failure in confronting our armed forces, which are determined to cleanse the dens of terrorism,” Mr Maliki said in a statement.

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the bombings underscored the “increasing desperation felt by criminals” and would only serve to “galvanise Iraqi forces and their coalition partners”.