Baghdad car bomb kills at least 20

A car bomb ripped through a crowd in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 20 people, including women and children, a day after the US military said violence in Iraq was at its lowest in six years.

The blast occurred near a market in the capital's Shaab neighbourhood, defence and interior ministry officials said, with a further 38 people wounded. Eyewitnesses described a scene of charred bodies and burnt-out vehicles.

Four children and three women were among the dead, according to officials at two local hospitals.

"I tried to escape and the fire was everywhere," said Umm Hatam, 45, who was heading home with groceries when the shock wave from the bomb knocked her off her feet.

"I saw the dead bodies of women and children, and about 10 small buses were burned," she said.

Karim Ibrahim, 40, an oil ministry worker, said "a large flame rose from the explosion, then I just found myself in the hospital."

"I was about 50 metres yards away from the explosion and I fainted because of my wounds," he said in Al-Kindy hospital of injuries to his shoulder and hand.

Shaab, a mixed neighbourhood, is north of Sadr City, an overwhelmingly Shiite area.

The car bomb exploded on a main road just after midday. Although two security checkpoints were nearby, the site was not sealed off.

The blast came a day after a US military spokesman said attacks in Iraq had dropped to their lowest levels since the months following the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

"Attacks are at their lowest since August 2003," Major General David Perkins said, adding that the number of incidents was down 90 percent from June 2007.

"There were 1,250 attacks a week at the height of the violence; now sometimes there are less than 100 a week," he said.

The Shaab bombing came three days after a suicide attack targeting Kurdish mourners in central Iraq killed 27 people and wounded 50 and an explosion on the outskirts of Baghdad killed another eight people.

Violence has eased in intensity since the end of 2007 -- with the US military stepping up anti-insurgency operations and Iraqi security forces being strengthened -- but deadly attacks still take place almost daily.

Also on Thursday, a bystander was killed and four electricity pylon repairmen were wounded when a roadside bomb engulfed the power workers' vehicle in restive Kirkuk province, police said.

And in Jalawla -- the central Iraq town where Monday's suicide attack on mourners took place -- an Imam was killed near his house by gunmen.

In 2007, a total of 17,430 Iraqis were killed, dropping to 6,772 last year. The casualty toll over the past three months was the lowest quarterly figure since the US-led invasion six years ago.

In a speech last month, Obama ordered an end to US combat in Iraq by August 31 next year, but also said 50,000 US troops will remain under a new mission until the end of 2011.





Egghead : A man poses with the alleged largest egg in the world during a photocall in central London. The egg was laid in the early 17th century, by the now extinct Great Elephant Bird of Madagascarto. AFP/Shaun Curry