This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/6633911.stm
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Car bomb explodes in Iraqi city | Car bomb explodes in Iraqi city |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| At least 16 people have been killed and dozens wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in the southern Iraqi town of Kufa, officials said. | At least 16 people have been killed and dozens wounded in a suicide car bomb attack in the southern Iraqi town of Kufa, officials said. |
| The explosion destroyed a restaurant and severely damaged shops in an open-air market, about 400m from the town's main mosque. | The explosion destroyed a restaurant and severely damaged shops in an open-air market, about 400m from the town's main mosque. |
| Kufa, a centre of Shia Muslim pilgrimage, is a large town 170km (80 miles) south of the capital, Baghdad. | Kufa, a centre of Shia Muslim pilgrimage, is a large town 170km (80 miles) south of the capital, Baghdad. |
| Last month, more than 70 people died in a car bombing in nearby Karbala. | |
| Tuesday's attack was the latest in a series of attacks on predominantly Shia areas south of Baghdad apparently aimed at increasing sectarian tensions. | |
| The BBC's James Shaw in Baghdad says Kufa has not previously suffered as much violence as neighbouring Shia cities because it is a key powerbase of the radical Shia cleric, Moqatada Sadr and is therefore well defended by Mr Sadr's powerful militia, the Mahdi Army. | |
| 'Pools of blood' | |
| The suicide bomber drove his vehicle into the crowded market, pulling up outside a two-storey restaurant popular with Shia pilgrims, witnesses said. "He tried to park the vehicle and then it exploded," Mohan Ali told Reuters. | |
| "There were many bodies." | |
| The blast destroyed the restaurant, blowing out the windows, knocking over tables and scattering body parts. | |
| "At least five or six people were killed inside the restaurant," the owner, Ali al-Hamadani, said. "There are pools of blood on the floor." | |
| A crowd gathered at the scene of the attack afterwards and began chanting "No, No, America!" | |
| A car bombing in Kufa in December killed 31 people and injured 45. |