Car bomb in Baghdad bus stop kills many

Baghdad: A powerful car bomb exploded in a crowded market area of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 63 people and wounding 75, in the biggest attack in the Iraqi capital in months.

Four children and five women were among those killed by the blast, Iraqi police said.
The bomb blew up near the main market in Al Hurriya neighbourhood in northwestern Baghdad, police said. It left a heap of smoking, mangled wreckage.

Ambulances raced back and forth taking casualties to nearby hospitals.

The US military said a "special groups" cell was responsible for the attack. This is jargon for Shiite militants which the US military believes are backed by Iran.

The military added the bomb was ordered to foster sectarian violence.

Before the blast, the market would have been packed with late-afternoon shoppers buying food before returning home.

Police said that the blast also set fire to about 20 shops and left several vehicles damaged.

Earlier on Tuesday, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck the checkpoint of US-allied fighters in northern Baghdad.

One person was killed in the attack and at least four others were injured, officials said.

In Mosul, gunmen shot dead Iraqi journalist Mohieldin Abdul Hameed just after he left for his home in Mosul.

Hundreds of angry demonstrators also took to the streets to protest the killing of four people in a US raid in the city.

The US military said the four killed were terrorists, but Iraqi police said they were civilians.