Police: Bomb near Baghdad shrine kills 7

[April 08, 2009]  BAGHDAD (AP) -- A bomb left in a plastic bag exploded Wednesday near the most important Shiite shrine in Baghdad, killing seven people and wounding 23, police said.

The blast occurred in the same neighborhood where an infant was rescued from a burning car the day before following an explosion that killed his mother. The man who rescued the infant said the baby boy was handed over Wednesday to his uncle.

Wednesday's attack was part of a wave of violence that hit Iraq this week, primarily in Shiite areas of Baghdad.

The uptick coincided with a five-hour visit Tuesday by President Barack Obama, who told U.S. troops that "there is still a lot of work to do" in Iraq despite the new focus on the war in Afghanistan.

The bomb Wednesday exploded in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kazimiyah, about 100 yards (100 meters) from the tomb of Imam Mousa al-Kazim -- one of the 12 Shiite saints.

Last January, a man dressed as a woman blew himself up near the shrine, killing more than three dozen people and wounding more than 70.

The latest blast occurred in a pedestrian-only area filled with jewelry and clothing shops, which circles the shrine.

No group has claimed responsibility for the recent blasts, but the U.S. military suspects al-Qaida in Iraq, a Sunni extremist group that has targeted Shiite civilians in the past.

The government has blamed supporters of Saddam Hussein in league with al-Qaida and suggested the blasts were timed for this week's anniversary of the founding of his disbanded Baath party. Thursday is also the sixth anniversary of the U.S. capture of Baghdad, which ended Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime.

Whoever is responsible, the attacks have undermined public confidence in the Iraqi security services as the U.S. military prepares to draw down its forces in the cities by the end of June.

The area around the Kazimiyah shrine had been protected by Shiite militias, including the Mahdi Army, until they were forced out last year by the Iraqi army and police.

"I find myself forced to praise the Mahdi Army's past role in Kazimiyah when they were supervising it and manning its check points, despite all negative things they have done," said schoolteacher Ali Adnan, 34.

He said the militiamen appeared to take their jobs seriously and "that's something the security forces lack."

A car bombing Tuesday in Kazimiyah killed nine people, including a mother who was riding in a taxi with her infant son. A salesman, Asad Raad, plucked the boy from the back seat of the burning car where he lay next to his dead mother.

Raad told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the boy was claimed by his uncle.

A badly burned man pulled from the car, initially believed to be the boy's father, has been identified as a taxi driver, Raad said.

Also Wednesday, a curfew was imposed in a former insurgent stronghold west of the capital as security forces searched door-to-door following a suicide bomb attack that killed three people the day before, a police official said.

The curfew in Fallujah began at dawn, said the official. Vehicles and pedestrians are banned from the streets.

The police officials all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information to the news media.

[Associated Press; By SINAN SALAHEDDIN]

Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.

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