A car bomb exploded a market in a Kurdish area in the northern city of Kirkuk on Friday, killing at least eight people and injuring dozens, police said. South of Baghdad, the U.S. military said a helicopter was forced down, leaving two soldiers wounded.
The helicopter was en route to support a planned mission when it made the forced landing in Youssifiyah, the U.S. military said, adding the cause was not immediately clear. Two soldiers sustained non-life threatening injuries, according to the statement. U.S.-led forces had secured the site and recovered the aircraft, military spokesman Lt. Col. Rudolph Burwell said, according to the AP.
An Iraqi army officer said the helicopter went down after hitting an electricity pole at about 1:30 a.m. He said the raid was targeting a senior al-Qaeda in Iraq leader in the agricultural area.
Scattered violence struck Iraqis nationwide, with at least 15 people killed or found dead. The deadliest attack was a parked car bomb that tore through the stalls as the market was packed with afternoon shoppers in southern Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad. Police initially said it was a suicide attack, but police Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qader later said it was a parked car bomb. Qader said at least eight people were killed and 45 were wounded.
A roadside bomb also exploded near a minibus in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing two passengers and injuring four others, while another civilian died in a drive-by shooting as he was walking elsewhere in the city, police said.
Hundreds of thousands of Shiites, meanwhile, began the journey home a day after massing in the streets outside a golden-domed shrine in northern Baghdad to commemorate the anniversary of the death of an 8th century saint, Imam Moussa al-Kadhim.
