BAGHDAD — A bomb left in a plastic bag exploded Wednesday near Baghdad’s most important Shiite shrine, killing seven people and wounding 23, police said.
The blast occurred in the same neighborhood where an infant was rescued from a burning car a day earlier after an explosion killed his mother. The man who rescued the infant said the baby boy was handed over Wednesday to his uncle.
Wednesday’s attack was part of a wave of violence that hit Iraq this week, primarily in Shiite areas of Baghdad. The uptick coincided with a five-hour visit Tuesday by President Barack Obama, who told U.S. troops that “there is still a lot of work to do” in Iraq despite the new focus on the war in Afghanistan.
The bomb exploded in a pedestrian shopping area in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kazimiyah about 100 yards from the tomb of Imam Mousa al-Kazim — one of the 12 Shiite saints.
No group has claimed responsibility for the recent blasts, but the U.S. military blames al-Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni extremist group that has targeted Shiite civilians in the past.
The government has blamed supporters of Saddam Hussein in league with al-Qaeda and suggested the blasts were timed for this week’s anniversary of the founding of his disbanded Baath Party. Today is also the sixth anniversary of the U.S. capture of Baghdad, which ended Hussein’s Sunni-dominated regime.
