61 killed in Baghdad car bomb attack

At least 61 people were killed and 128 wounded when a car bomb exploded near a Shiite mosque in a busy commercial district of Baghdad today, Iraqi police said.

The thunderous explosion, which occurred just before 2pm local time, sent smoke billowing over concrete buildings, two days after the expiration of a curfew aimed at preventing retaliatory violence after last week’s bombing of a Shiite mosque in Samarra.

Gunfire erupted shortly after the blast, which a police officer said went off near the Khillani mosque in the commercial area of Sinak.

Police and hospital officials gave the casualty toll as at least 61 people killed and 128 wounded.

It was not the first time the Sinak area has been hit. A suicide car bomber killed at least 21 people there on May 28.