Car Bombs Kill at Least 40 in Amara, Iraq

A series of near-simultaneous car bombs killed at least 40 and injured dozens this morning in Amara, a Shiite-dominated city in southeastern Iraq, CNN reports. The British military handed the area to Iraqi forces in August, 2006; it has been the scene of increasingly violent confrontations between Shiite factions.

One bomb was reported to have exploded in the marketplace, the others in garages.
Muqtada Al-Sadr’s Medhi Army has been fighting in the area against the Badr Brigade, the militia of a rival group, SICI;  in October, leaders of the two groups signed an agreement to end hostilities between them. (More Iraq stories.)