(RFE/RL)
September 23, 2006 -- An Iraqi Sunni militant group has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack that killed more than 20 people and injured some 30 others in a predominantly Shi'ite neighbourhood of Baghdad today.
Jamaat Jund al-Sahaba (Soldiers of the Prophet's Companions) said in a statement posted on the Internet that the bombing was in retaliation for the "crimes" of the Imam Al-Mahdi Army, a Shi'ite militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The authenticity of the statement could not be immediately confirmed.
The blast today occurred in Al-Sadr City, a sprawling Shi'ite slum, which is home to more than 2 million
people and is a stronghold of the Al-Mahdi Army.
Jamaat Jund al-Sahaba has claimed responsibility for earlier attacks against Shi'a.
Police spokesman Colonel Sa'd Abd al-Sada said the bomb was hidden in a small barrel near a kerosene tanker where scores of people were waiting to purchase fuel. He said that when the bomb went off, it exploded the kerosene tanker.
(AP, Reuters, dpa)
The authenticity of the statement could not be immediately confirmed.
The blast today occurred in Al-Sadr City, a sprawling Shi'ite slum, which is home to more than 2 million
people and is a stronghold of the Al-Mahdi Army.
Jamaat Jund al-Sahaba has claimed responsibility for earlier attacks against Shi'a.
Police spokesman Colonel Sa'd Abd al-Sada said the bomb was hidden in a small barrel near a kerosene tanker where scores of people were waiting to purchase fuel. He said that when the bomb went off, it exploded the kerosene tanker.
(AP, Reuters, dpa)