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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| More than 150 dead in Iraq blasts | More than 150 dead in Iraq blasts |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| At least 157 people have been killed in a string of attacks in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, security officials say. | At least 157 people have been killed in a string of attacks in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, security officials say. |
| In the deadliest incident, some 115 people were killed in a car bombing in a food market in Sadriya district. | In the deadliest incident, some 115 people were killed in a car bombing in a food market in Sadriya district. |
| An attack on a police checkpoint in Sadr City and several other explosions left at least another 42 people dead. | An attack on a police checkpoint in Sadr City and several other explosions left at least another 42 people dead. |
| The attacks came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said Iraqi forces would assume control of the country's security by the end of the year. | The attacks came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said Iraqi forces would assume control of the country's security by the end of the year. |
| On Monday, the Iraqi parliament bloc loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Sadr withdrew from the cabinet, demanding Mr Maliki set a timetable for a US troop withdrawal. | On Monday, the Iraqi parliament bloc loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Sadr withdrew from the cabinet, demanding Mr Maliki set a timetable for a US troop withdrawal. |
| 'Burned alive' | |
| The bomb in Shia-dominated Sadriya was reportedly left in a parked car and exploded at about 1600 (1200 GMT) in the middle of a crowd of workers and shoppers. | |
| There were pieces of flesh all over the place Sadriya bomb witness class="" href="/1/hi/in_pictures/6568797.stm">In pictures: Baghdad carnage | |
| The market was being rebuilt after it was destroyed by a bombing in February which killed more than 130 people. | The market was being rebuilt after it was destroyed by a bombing in February which killed more than 130 people. |
| The powerful bomb started a fire which swept over cars and minibuses parked nearby, burning many people and sending a large plume of smoke over Baghdad. | |
| Television pictures showed a blasted scene littered with blackened and twisted wreckage. | |
| One witness told the Reuters news agency that many of the victims were women and children. | |
| BAGHDAD ATTACKS Sadriya: Car bomb kills at least 115 at marketSadr City: Car bomb kills at least 30 at checkpointKarrada: Car bomb near private hospital kills at least 10al-Shurja: Minibus bomb kills at least two people Bombs mar handover plan | |
| "I saw dozens of dead bodies," the man said. "Some people were burned alive inside minibuses. Nobody could reach them after the explosion. | |
| "There were pieces of flesh all over the place." | |
| Ahmed Hameed, a shopkeeper in the area said: "The street was transformed into a swimming pool of blood." | |
| About an hour earlier, a suicide car bomb attack on a police checkpoint in Sadr City killed 30 people. | About an hour earlier, a suicide car bomb attack on a police checkpoint in Sadr City killed 30 people. |
| Another parked car bomb killed at least 10 people near a hospital in the Karrada district of Baghdad, while in al-Shurja district at least two people were killed by a bomb left on a minibus. | Another parked car bomb killed at least 10 people near a hospital in the Karrada district of Baghdad, while in al-Shurja district at least two people were killed by a bomb left on a minibus. |
| Hospitals in Baghdad were inundated with more than 200 injured people, many of them with serious burns from the bomb at the Sadriya market. | |
| Car and suicide bombings have occurred almost daily in Baghdad in recent months, despite a US-led security crackdown since February. | Car and suicide bombings have occurred almost daily in Baghdad in recent months, despite a US-led security crackdown since February. |
| The bombers are proving that they can slip through the tightened security net and defy the clampdown, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad. | |
| Security handover | |
| Most of the attacks have been in Shia areas, increasing pressure for the Shia militias to step up their campaign of reprisal killings against the Sunni community in which the insurgents are based, says our correspondent. | |
| As Baghdad was rocked by explosions, security in Maysan province to the south was transferred from British to Iraqi control. | |
| MAJOR ATTACKS 6 March 2007: 90 killed in double suicide bombing in Hilla3 Feb 2007: 130 killed in lorry bomb in Baghdad's market in mainly Shia area2 Dec 2006: More than 50 killed in car bombs in same Baghdad market23 Nov 2006: 200 killed in wave of car bombings and mortar blasts in Baghdad's Shia Sadr City7 April 2006: 85 killed in triple suicide bombing at Shia mosque in Baghdad | |
| Maysan is the fourth of the country's 18 provinces to be handed over to Iraqi security control. | |
| Iraq's national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie said the three provinces of the autonomous Kurdish region would be next. | |
| "Then it will be province by province until we achieve [the complete transfer] before the end of the year," he said in a speech at the handover ceremony delivered on behalf of Prime Minister Maliki. | |
| But analysts say that even if Iraqi forces take the lead in providing security across the country, US and other coalition troops will have to remain in support for some time. | |
| The attacks in Baghdad came as officials from more than 60 countries attended a UN conference in Geneva on the plight of Iraqi refugees. | |
| The UN estimates up to 50,000 people flee the violence in Iraq each month. | The UN estimates up to 50,000 people flee the violence in Iraq each month. |