2 bombs in busy Baghdad market kill at least 9

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Two bombs tore through a market full of morning shoppers in northeastern Baghdad on Friday, killing at least nine people and wounding dozens more, authorities said.

The explosion came at midmorning in a market in the mostly Shiite Muslim neighborhood of Husseiniyah, where shoppers were buying goods before the heat of the day, a police official said.

The blasts were the latest in a fierce wave of attacks in Iraq in the past two weeks that has killed more than 125 people, mostly Shiite Muslims and government security forces.

The bloodshed highlights the struggle the Iraqi government faces in defeating al-Qaida-linked insurgents and staving off renewed sectarian warfare. The government itself is deadlocked over largely sectarian political conflicts.

Minutes later, a second bomb went off, apparently targeting police who had rushed to the scene.

The death toll was at least nine people dead and more than 50 wounded, a medical official said . Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

In a separate attack earlier Friday, gunmen opened fire on a police checkpoint in western Baghdad, killing three officers, the police official said.

Associated Press

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