Five car bombs went off across Baghdad on Monday, killing 32 people and wounding scores, police said. In the deadliest attack, a blast at a popular market in eastern Baghdad's Shi'ite Sadr City slum killed at least 10 people and wounded 65, police said, according to Reuters.
Another car bomb blew up next to a group of labourers queuing for work, killing six people and wounding 16.
Two other blasts shook a market area of Husseiniya, on Baghdad's northern outskirts, killing four, and a street in eastern Baghdad, apparently targeting the convoy of an Interior Ministry official, killing one of his guards and a bystander. "The explosion caused major damage to buildings and they even hurt some children," shopkeeper Abdul-Jabar Saad said of that attack, which he witnessed. "God damn these people."
Abbas visit
The blasts came one day after Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas hailed Iraq on Sunday for supporting his people. Abbas, on the first visit to Baghdad by a Palestinian leader since the 2003 US-led invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein, held talks with President Jalal Talabani.
"We thank the Iraqi government for taking care of our people here," the Palestinian president said at a joint news conference with his Iraqi counterpart. "President Talabani considers this a part of the security of Iraq."
Abbas, on his first trip to Iraq, did not comment on the allegations of rights abuses against Palestinians, and instead focused on boosting ties. "We see great progress in Iraq, in democracy and security and all aspects of life," said the Palestinian president.
"This country has started to recover and is out of danger, and that is important for Arabs and Muslims."
