A suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden car on Monday near a busy Baghdad market, killing three people and wounding 10, a police officer said. The 1:30pm blast apparently targeted a police patrol on the main street of the capitalÂ’s Shiite district of Jamila, next to a bustling marketplace. Two policemen were wounded in the explosion, according to the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Two cars and a minibus were also damaged in explosion, which claimed the bomberÂ’s life as well.
Juice vendor Hamid Ghassan, 20, said he heard the blast and came out of his shop to see what happened. “I went out and saw that the bomber targeted poor innocent people,” Ghassan said, adding that he was dismayed that the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is “sitting safe, making agreements and lying to people while masses of people are being killed.” The midday bombing near the busy marketplace is a blow to Iraqi government hopes that the holy month of Ramadan would be peaceful, to show the success of a 7-month-old security operation in the capital and surrounding areas.