At least 17 people have been killed in attacks across. In the worst attack, a mortar attack killed at least eight people and injured dozens in a secondhand goods market Wednesday in a shelling followed closely by a suicide bombing in the Sadr City Shiite district of the capital, police said.
Two rounds landed and blasted at 11:20 a.m. in the Haraj Market in a mixed Shiite-Sunni area in northern Baghdad, said police officers Ali Mutab and Mohammed Khayoun, the AP reported.
Some 25 minutes later, a suicide bomber with explosives hidden beneath his clothing set them off aboard a bus in Sadr City, killing two people and injuring 15, police 1st Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said.
Also Tuesday, Brig. Muhssin Qassim al-Yassiri, head of a security force that guards the Education Ministry, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when gunmen opened fire on his vehicle in west Baghdad, killing his driver, a police officer said.
A bomb also exploded near a shop in Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad, killing its owner and wounding four people, said police Capt. Muthana Lkalid.
Meanwhile, American ground and air forces also conducted a raid targeting foreign fighters near the Iranian border, killing one, the U.S. command said. The early morning raid took place near Khanaqin, a remote desert area 87 miles northeast of Baghdad.
