Car bomb kills 26 in Shi’ite east Baghdad: police

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A car bomb killed 26 civilians and
wounded 60 in a Shi’ite Muslim district of eastern Baghdad on
Sunday, police said.

The bomb was in the Sadr City neighborhood, a poor area
that is a stronghold of Shi’ite militias. Two weeks ago, a car
bomb in the area killed about 60 people, one of a number of
very bloody incidents this month that have raised fears of
civil war.

There were also clashes in the district overnight between
the Mehdi Army of radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and
U.S.-led forces, residents and police said.

The U.S. military said in a statement that Iraqi troops
raided a site in mainly Shi’ite eastern Baghdad targeting two
people believed to be involved in “death squads” — a term
usually applied to Shi’ite militia activity.

It said eight people were detained after a battle involving
machineguns and grenades and that two Iraqi hostages were
freed.

Two other people were arrested in a similar raid in
northwestern Baghdad, the military said.