Many Iraqis killed in Baghdad car bomb attack

Many Iraqis killed in Baghdad car bomb attack

At least 15 people have been killed in a suicide car bomb attack in the predominately Shia district of Karrada in central Baghdad.

According to police, 20 other people were injured when the bomb exploded in a four-wheel-drive vehicle parked in a busy area full of electronics shops on Wednesday.

Karrada, on the eastern side of the Tigris river, is normally one of the more stable areas in the Iraqi capital, but has been the target of several bombs in the past 10 days.

A parked car bomb killed 25 people and wounded 115 last Thursday, three days after three separate bombs killed another 13 people in the same district.

The latest attack comes as new figurers show at least 1,652 civilians were killed in Iraq in July, one-third more than in the previous month.

According to figures compiled from three Iraqi ministries and seen by AFP news agency, July's toll is also slightly higher than the number for February, when the US launched a "surge" aimed at reducing sectarian violence in the country.

In that month, 1,626 civilians were killed according to the ministries' figures.

In June, 1,241 were killed, prompting hope that the troop reinforcements were having an effect, but July's figure represents a 33 per cent increase in the number of deaths.

Political reconciliation

Meanwhile, a senior US military official has said that while the deployment of US troops has improved security in Iraq to some degree, the country's future is jeopardised by the failure of Iraqi leaders to forge political reconciliation.

Navy Admiral Michael Mullen told a senate hearing that security on the ground in Iraq is "not great, but better".

But Mullen said the US military effort could succeed only if Iraqis struck a compromise to defuse sectarian divisions.

Mullen is expected to be approved as the most senior military adviser to George Bush, the US president.

Mullen also said that an early withdrawal of US troops could turn Iraq into a "cauldron".

Bomb kills three U.S. soldiers in Baghdad

Three U.S. soldiers were killed and six wounded on Tuesday when a roadside bomb detonated near their patrol in Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

The attack raised the death toll for U.S. forces in Iraq to 77 for the month of July.

July was still the least deadly month since last November, a fact the military has welcomed as a sign that its new strategy of building up troops this year was having the desired effect.

The military said the bomb, in the eastern section of the capital, was an "explosively formed penetrator," a particularly deadly type of armor-piercing device.

Washington and U.S. commanders in Iraq have accused Iran of supplying militias in Iraq with such weapons. Iran denies the accusation.

PHOTO CAPTION

US soldiers inspect the wreckage of a vehicle at the site of a car bomb in Kirkuk, north of Baghdad, 31 July. (AFP)

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