Car Bomb Kills 7 In Iraqi Capital

BAGHDAD — A car bomb exploded Friday at a market south of Baghdad in a region that was once the scene of frequent attacks on Shiites, killing seven people and wounding 21 others, police and hospital officials said.

The bomb, inside a parked car, exploded in the town of Mahmoudiya about a half hour before the end of the day's fasting for Ramadan, when shoppers were in the market to buy last-minute supplies for the evening meal, or iftar.

Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Baghdad, has a sizable Shiite community, while the countryside around it is predominantly Sunni. Al-Qaida in Iraq was once very active in the area.

Despite the overall drop in violence in Iraq, there are persistent attacks on Shiite civilians that appear intended to re-ignite the sectarian bloodshed that nearly plunged Iraq into civil war in 2006 and 2007.

Police said the bomb exploded near a bakery in a primarily Shiite section of the town, setting fire to nearby buildings.

Dr. Ahmed al-Maamouri of the town's main hospital gave the casualty figures from Friday's attack.

"We were preparing for the iftar when our apartment was shaken by such a heavy blast ... that horrified and panicked our children," said Riyadh Jabbar, a Mahmoudiya resident. "Each time we begin to feel safe and secure, we are awakened by the thunder of blasts."

The town is located on the road between Baghdad and the Shiite shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf, and during the height of the violence in Iraq there were frequent attacks on Shiite pilgrims and others making their way along the route.

After Friday's bombing, crowds of people upset at the failure of security forces to prevent the attack threw stones at a convoy carrying an Iraqi army general who came to inspect the scene. The general's guards fired in the air and the general had to quickly leave the area.

Iraq's government and security forces are under scrutiny after the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq's cities before a June 30 deadline written into a security pact between the two countries.

Mindful of January's national elections, the government is eager to show it can fill any gaps in security after the U.S. pullback.