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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Truck bomb kills 25 at Shiite marketplace


With a poster of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric, in the background,  Shiite politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim presents his joint Shiite ticket to reporters Saturday in Baghdad.
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Borzou Daragahi Los Angeles Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq – An explosives-filled truck blew up in a crowded Shiite Muslim marketplace near the city of Baquba on Saturday, killing at least 25 Iraqis. In two separate incidents in and around the capital, three U.S. soldiers were slain.

The violence came as Iraqi politicians readied themselves for the Dec. 15 parliamentary election by putting final touches on alliances that remain largely similar to the narrow sectarian and ethnic groupings that defined the Oct. 15 constitution referendum and last January’s national assembly vote.

The campaign will begin in earnest after Tuesday, the day political coalitions, parties and individuals draw numbers for ballot positions, which will play a key role in identifying candidates to voters. But politicians over the weekend began outlining their platforms.

Sunni Arabs have been the driving force behind Iraq’s insurgency, and they largely boycotted the January election. But many have vowed to participate in the upcoming vote.

While some Iraqis have anticipated that Sunni participation in the campaign might curb violence, Saturday’s blast near Baqubah, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, highlighted the prospect of continuing bloodshed.

The explosives were apparently hidden in a truck covered with boxes of fresh dates. A suicide bomber drove the vehicle to a small marketplace near a Shiite mosque in the crowded agricultural village of Huwaydir, about six miles north of Baqubah.

“No one had suspected that truck because it was carrying boxes of dates, so it was allowed to get into the market without being searched,” said Jaffar Abed Baqi, a 32-year-old farm worker. “The next thing we know there was a big explosion and huge fireballs everywhere with shrapnel flying.”

The explosion came as villagers were gathering to break the dawn-to-dusk fast observed during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Elsewhere, two U.S. soldiers died when their patrol struck a roadside bomb in southern Baghdad. Another soldier was killed and four were injured when their vehicle struck a landmine near Bayji, 15 miles north of Baghdad.

U.S. forces also launched raids and airstrikes in the western Iraqi town of Husaybah, targeting an alleged leader of al-Qaida in Iraq and other suspected insurgents, the military announced Saturday.

At least 2,015 American military personnel have died in Iraq since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion. At least eight U.S. military personnel have been killed in Iraq over the last two days, and 83 have died this month.