A device, which exploded in Baghdad, released toxic fumes and killing at least three people. This was the second such attack with a makeshift "chemical bomb" in two days, police and officials said on Thursday.
According to Reuters, the bomb went off in Bayaa, in southwest Baghdad, on Wednesday. A police source put the death toll at three with 35 more hospitalized. However, an Interior Ministry source said six died and 73 were injured, including many sickened by a gas thought to be chlorine, which burns the skin and can be fatal if inhaled in a concentrated form.
On Tuesday, a bomb destroyed a truck carrying chlorine north of Baghdad, killing at least five people and spewing out fumes that left some 140 others sick, Iraqi police said.
Meanwhile, a U.S. official said ground fire apparently forced the downing of a Black Hawk helicopter. All nine aboard the aircraft were rescued. The Black Hawk would be at least the eighth U.S. helicopter to crash or be taken down by hostile fire in the past month. Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman, told the AP initial reports indicated the chopper was brought down by "small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades" north of Baghdad.
In Najaf, a suicide car bomber killed at least 13 at a police checkpoint.
