Car Bomb North of Baghdad Kills 23

Explosion rocks open-air market, 50 wounded

A resident collects pieces of human flesh from the site of a bomb attack in Basra on Monday, May 10, 2010 — one in a string of attacks across the country targeting Shiites, killing more than 100 people. (Photo credit: Atef Hassan / Reuters)

By Mazin Yahya

May 21, 2010

BAGHDAD — A car bomb exploded Friday at an open-air market in a Shiite town northeast of Baghdad, killing 23 people and wounding more than 50, Iraqi police and hospital officials said.

The bombing struck the town of Khalis, north of Baghdad, a former al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold that has seen several powerful blasts. In March, twin bombings struck a restaurant in the same town, killing 57 [link added].

Khalis is a Shiite enclave in the largely Sunni province of Diyala. …

Shiites were also the main targets in a string of attacks across the country two weeks ago that killed 119 people, the worst day of violence this year [link added]. …

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Related reports on this site

‘Dark Days Soaked With Blood’ (May 14, 2010)

Cascade of Violence in Iraq (May 10, 2010)

Iraq Election Turmoil (April 26, 2010)

Bloody Easter in Baghdad (April 4, 2010)

Iraq Election Violence (March 8, 2010)

Iraq Mass Casualty Bombing (Feb. 1, 2010)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — May 21, 2009

An Iraqi man sits on the sidewalk looking at the destruction following a car bomb in the mainly Shiite Shula quarter of Baghdad on Thursday, May 21, 2009. (Photo credit: Khalil al-Murshidi / AFP — Getty Images)

Mass Casualty Baghdad Bombings

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that a series of bombings hit Baghdad and the northern Iraq city of Kirkuk, killing at least 25 people (including three U.S. troops) and wounding dozens more (including nine American soldiers), one day after a car bomb exploded near a group of restaurants in a Shiite neighborhood of northwest Baghdad, killing 41 people and injuring more than 70.