Bombers strike markets in Baghdad, kill 91

Last Updated: Friday, February 1, 2008 | 6:51 PM ET

CBC News

Two bomb attacks on Friday killed at least 91 people at separate pet markets in Baghdad, Iraqi officials said, although U.S. officials put the death toll lower.

Cleanup continues at a pet market in Baghdad on Friday where a female suicide bomber blew herself up.
(Khalid Mohammed/Associated Press)

Iraqi officials said earlier Friday at least 46 people died and more than 100 were wounded in the first attack — blamed on a female bomber — who blew herself up at the main pet market in central Baghdad. Dozens more people were injured.

The second explosion, at a bird market in southeastern Baghdad, killed at least 27 people and wounded 67. The cause of the second blast is not clear; reports say it was either a female suicide bomber or roadside bomb.

As the death toll rose throughout the day, it was not immediately clear how many more people were killed in each location.

Iraqi officials claim the two women had Down syndrome and that the explosives were detonated by remote control.

U.S. military spokesperson Navy Cmdr. Scott Rye put the death toll lower, with seven people killed in the first blast and 20 in the second. Rye confirmed both attacks were carried out by women wearing explosives on vests and said the attacks appeared to be co-ordinated and likely the work of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

In the first bombing, a woman at the central al-Ghazl market, a popular Friday gathering place, hid the explosives underneath a traditional black robe. Blood-stained boxes, pigeon carcasses and debris littered the area.

The second bombing happened about 20 minutes later in a bird market in a predominantly Shia area in southeastern Baghdad. One anonymous witness told AP Television News that a woman said she had birds to sell, then blew herself up as people gathered around to inspect them.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said the attacks were committed by people trying to "show that they are still able to stop the march of history and of our people toward reconciliation."

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said the female suicide bombings show al-Qaeda has found a new way to destabilize the country.

"They have found a different, deadly way to do this," Crocker told the Associated Press in an interview. "Al-Qaeda has been damaged, but … it is still there, it is resilient and it is determined."

It's rare for women in Iraq to be involved in such acts of violence, based on cultural taboos in the country.

The attacks were the latest in a series of violent incidents that have been chipping away at Iraqi confidence over recent security gains.

They occurred just as the weekly Islamic call to prayer resounded across the city.