Iraq: 18 dead in car bomb

A suicide car bomb struck Baghdad’s Shiite militia stronghold today, killing at least 18 people as international envoys met in the Iraqi capital to talk about stabilising the violence-shattered country.

The blast hit an Iraqi patrol in Sadr City at midday, scattering burning debris across a small bridge, witnesses said.

A reporter travelling with US troops nearby said the explosion showered shrapnel across a joint US-Iraq security station 300 meters away. The partially shattered windscreen of a car landed at the gates of the compound.

Police said at least 18 people were killed and 48 wounded.

Home to about 2.5 million of Baghdad’s poorest residents, Sadr City is the base for fighters allied to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. His militia, the Mahdi Army, has laid low in recent weeks during a US-Iraqi security crackdown under pressure from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.

Hours earlier, Iraqi special forces teams backed by US soldiers detained six suspects believed to be a rogue members of the Mahdi Army, the US military said in a statement.

The suspects were accused of co-ordinating and carrying out kidnappings and murders of Iraqi civilians, the statement said.

In central Baghdad, two mortars fell near Iraq’s Foreign Ministry, where envoys gathered for an international conference on how to quell the violence and bolster Iraq’s government. There were no reports of injuries, but smoke was visible from the meeting area.

Also today, the US military said it was investigating the shooting of three Iraqis in Baghdad’s Azamiyah neighbourhood. American paratroopers fired on a vehicle when it failed to respond to warning signals, the military said in a statement. Three Iraqis were killed and three others were wounded in Friday’s incident, it said.

In other violence, a roadside bomb killed three Iraqi policemen and wounded another in central Ramadi, police said.

Gunmen opened fire today on Shiite pilgrims in Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, police said. One person was killed and three were wounded. Later, two more pilgrims were killed in shootings in eastern Baghdad, police said.

The pilgrims were on their way back from a Shiite shrine in Karbala, where millions of faithful were performing rites this weekend for Arbaeen, a holiday that marks the end of a 40-day mourning period after the death anniversary of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson.

Some 340 people, mostly Shiite pilgrims en route to Karbala, were killed in sectarian attacks this past week.