IRAQ:A car bomb in a busy Baghdad market killed 25 people and wounded 60 yesterday, while parliament adjourned without any action on constitutional reforms aimed at stopping sectarian violence.
The bombing at a popular outdoor market in southwestern Amil was Baghdad's worst car bombing since 35 people died on May 6th in nearby Bayaa, another Shia district repeatedly targeted in attacks blamed on Sunni Islamist al-Qaeda.
Thousands of extra US and Iraqi troops have been deployed around Baghdad and other areas in a three-month-old security crackdown aimed at dragging Iraq back from the brink of sectarian civil war. Gen David Petraeus, commander of US forces in Iraq, will deliver a progress report on the build-up in September.
The security crackdown is meant to buy time for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government to meet a series of political targets set by Washington.
Parliament sat yesterday but was adjourned without addressing the constitutional reforms, which include a crucial revenue-sharing oil law and a law that would allow former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party hold public office.
After six months of talks, a constitutional reform committee had been expected to present parliament with a final draft of its recommendations.
Television footage showed cars and shops on fire in the commercial area of Amil district. One body lay covered by a yellow sheet, while others were carried out of the rubble in blankets.
Other shaken residents clambered down the sides of partially destroyed buildings. "There was a blast. It killed a large number of innocent people, poor people who worked to earn a living," one man said.