A car bomb struck near a Shiite mosque in a busy commercial district Tuesday in Baghdad, killing at least 75 people and wounding over 200, police said. The huge blast occurred just before 2 p.m..
Gunfire erupted shortly after the explosion, which a police officer said went off near the Khillani mosque in the commercial area of Sinak. Police and hospital officials gave the casualty toll as at least 75 people killed and more than 200 wounded, the AP reported.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it had launched a major offensive against al Qaeda north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Tuesday involving some 10,000 troops. It said 22 militants had been killed in the early hours of the offensive, called Operation Arrowhead.
According to Reuters, the operation was taking place around the city of Baquba in Diyala province.
A senior U.S. military official said American forces were taking advantage of the arrival of the final brigade of 30,000 additional American forces to open the concerted attacks. "We are going into the areas that have been sanctuaries of al-Qaeda and other extremists to take them on and weed them out, to help get the areas clear and to really take on al-Qaeda," the senior official was quoted as saying by the AP. "Those are areas in the belts around Baghdad, some parts in Anbar province and specifically Diyala province."
