More Than 50 Reported Killed In Baghdad Bomb Attack

(RFE/RL) December 12, 2006 -- At least 57 people have been reported killed and around 150 injured in what is described as a pair of bomb attacks today in the center of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

The attacks struck a crowd of laborers who gathered in Tayran Square to seek work for the day.


One explosion was caused by a parked car bomb. The other blast reportedly involved a suicide bomber posing as an employer.


Iraq is gripped by tit-for-tat sectarian killings between majority Shi'a and Sunni Arabs, once dominant under Saddam Hussein but now the backbone of the insurgency.


Thousands have been killed in violence many Iraqis fear is pitching the country toward all-out civil war.

On The Verge Of Civil War

On The Verge Of Civil War

The Imam Al-Mahdi Army on parade (epa)


HAS THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ BECOME A CIVIL WAR? Many observers have concluded that the tit-for-tat sectarian violence that emerged after the February 2006 bombing of a mosque in Samarra has become a full-blown civil war.... (more)

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THE COMPLETE PICTURE: Click on the image to view RFE/RL's complete coverage of events in Iraq and that country's ongoing transition.