52 Dead in Baghdad Blast

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 24, 2009 1:38 PM CDT
52 Dead in Baghdad Blast
Followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr attend Friday prayers in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad last week.   (AP Photo)

An explosion ripped through a market in Baghdad’s Sadr City today killing 52 and injuring 104, Reuters reports. Though Iraq has seen markedly less violence in the past year, today’s bombing is part of a wave of attacks ahead of the US military’s scheduled withdrawal from Iraqi cities next week. Sadr City is home to supporters of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, though it is patrolled by Iraqi government forces. (More Sadr City stories.)

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