Car bomb kills 9 in Shi’ite east Baghdad: police

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A car bomb killed at least nine
civilians and wounded at least 25 in a Shi’ite Muslim district
of eastern Baghdad on Sunday, police and Interior Ministry
sources said.

The bomb was in Sadr City, a poor neighborhood that is a
stronghold of Shi’ite militias. Two weeks ago, a car bomb in
the area killed about 60 people.

There were 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
machine guns and grenades and two Iraqi hostages were freed.

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