The double assault came at a time of day when the morgue, behind the health ministry building, fills with anguished people who come to view bodies of victims of the relentless sectarian violence ravaging the Iraqi capital. Police scour the streets of Baghdad early each morning for bodies that have been dumped during the night. Most are found blindfolded, hands tied behind their backs and bullets in their heads. Many also shows signs of torture.
In a later attack, six people were killed and 15 were wounded when a car bomb exploded in a busy street in northeastern Ur neighbourhood, security and medical officials said. Ur is a flashpoint district lying between the Shiite militia bastion of Sadr City and Adhamiyah, a dangerous Sunni neighbourhood.Insurgents have stepped up attacks in and around Baghdad since the start of Ramadan, a period of increased violence in Iraq since the US-led 2003 March invasion.
The latest deaths bring to 66 the number of people killed in bombings, shootings and mortar attacks across the country since the start in Iraq last Thursday of the Muslim fasting month, which al-Qaeda warned would be bloody.