BAGHDAD — Three car bombs exploded Wednesday evening in the eastern Baghdad district of Sadr City, killing at least 41 people and heightening fear about a new outbreak of violence as U.S. troops start to withdraw.
The bombings, which wounded about 70 people, happened shortly before sunset, Iraqi police officials said.
The attack was the deadliest in Sadr City since the Iraqi army wrested control of the impoverished Shiite district from militias in May.
Iraqi police officials said they defused three other car bombs shortly after the blasts.
Wednesday’s attacks come after a string of bombings in Shiite areas last week that killed more than 160 people.
Members of the Mahdi Army, the predominant militia in the area, in recent days have expressed a desire to take up arms again. Their leader, anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, has ordered them to obey a cease-fire.
The spike in violence comes as American troops are closing down small, inner-city outposts and retreating mainly to large bases outside the cities in accordance with a bilateral security agreement that set a strict withdrawal timeline.
Under the agreement, U.S. combat troops must leave urban areas by June 30.
The rash of violence, believed to be the work of Sunni insurgents trying to undermine the Iraqi government, has raised questions about Iraqi forces’ preparedness as the U.S. military footprint in Iraq continues to shrink.
Also, five people were killed in the capital in a roadside bomb.
