Two suicide bombers blew themselves up Thursday in a crowded outdoor market in a Shiite city south of Baghdad, killing at least 45 people and injuring 150, police said.
According to the AP, the attackers entered the Maktabat outdoor market in the center of Hillah about 6 p.m.. Police said they thought one of the men appeared suspicious and stopped him.
The bomber detonated his explosives, then the second attacker, who was walking behind the first, set off his, police added. The blasts killed at least 45 people and injured 150, said Capt. Muthanna Khaled, a police spokesman in the southern province of Babil.
The blast capped a day in which at least 17 other people were killed in bombings and mortar attacks against Shiite and Sunni targets in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, figures provided by the Defense and Interior ministries showed that 100 Iraqi security forces were killed in January, while 593 "insurgents" were killed and 1,926 detained.
