Baghdad Market Is Hit by 3 Bombs

At Least 51 Dead In Coordinated Attack on Shiites

Detainees are guarded by Iraqi soldiers at their base in Baqouba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Dec. 2, 3006. Raids by U.S. and Iraqi forces were launched after a week of fighting between Sunni insurgents and police in and around Baqouba. During that time, 22 insurgents were killed and 15 detained, and six civilians killed and 20 kidnapped, police said. (AP Photo) (AP)

BAGHDAD, Dec 2 -- A triple car bombing struck a busy shopping district Saturday, killing at least 51 people and wounding more than 90 in an attack timed to inflict as many casualties as possible, according to Iraqi officials.

Three parked cars exploded just before dinnertime as shoppers were buying meat, fruit and vegetables in the bustling majority Shiite neighborhood of Sadriyah. Columns of black smoke hovered above buildings.

The bombing occurred a day after U.S. and Iraqi forces raided the nearby Sunni neighborhood of Fadhil, capturing dozens of suspected Sunni Arab insurgents. It was the deadliest attack since a barrage of car bombs, mortars and missiles hit the Shiite slums of Sadr City on Nov. 23, killing more than 200 people.

And in a pattern indicative of sectarian violence, the Interior Ministry said 44 bodies had been found in Baghdad in a 24-hour period, most of them shot.

Meanwhile, U.S. and Iraqi forces on Saturday launched an offensive in Baqubah, the provincial capital of Diyala province, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. The operation resulted in the arrest of 44 insurgents and the release of a 16-year-old kidnapping victim who was held for ransom for 25 days.

The offensive also led to the seizure of several car bombs that were ready to detonate as well as weapons and posters that encouraged sectarian violence, Iraqi army officials said. Saturday's operation came two days after the U.S. military said in a statement that Baqubah was fully operational.

As the fierce clashes occurred, gunmen opened fire on a man and his son in Aswad district, west of Khalis, 10 miles northwest of Baqubah, killing them both, Lt. Ali Khayyam said.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb killed a driver in Musayyib and armed men attacked a criminal intelligence commissioner's house in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday in the town of Iskandariyah. The assailants injured the commissioner and shot a missile at the house, but he started shooting back, killing two of the assailants. The gun battle continued until Iraqi forces arrived.

In al-Wahada, 22 miles south of Baghdad, a truck rammed into a bus stop, killing about 20 people, wounding 15 and crushing several cars, police said.

Clashes also broke out Saturday between insurgents and U.S. troops in the predominantly Sunni city of Duluiyah, 45 miles north of Baghdad, police Capt. Qassim Mohammed told the Associated Press.

In Anbar province, a U.S. soldier assigned to 1st Battalion, 1st Armored Division, died Friday from "wounds sustained due to enemy action," the military said Saturday.

In the west Baghdad neighborhood of Jihad, special Iraqi army forces, along with U.S. advisers, captured a member of an insurgent cell believed to have directed car bombing attacks, the military said. The Iraqi forces detained five additional suspects during the raid and confiscated several assault rifles.