Car Bomb Rips Through Baghdad Market, Killing 18

A car bombing in a Shi'ite district of the Iraqi capital has killed at least 18 people and wounded 35 more.
By VOA News
03 July 2007


A car bombing in a Shi'ite district of the Iraqi capital has killed at least 18 people and wounded 35 more.

The blast tore through a market in Baghdad's Shaab neighborhood Tuesday.

Earlier today, Iraq's cabinet unanimously approved a new draft of a law that would distribute potentially huge oil revenues among the country's Kurdish, Shi'ite and Sunni groups. Iraq's parliament is to debate it on Wednesday.

Kurds and others claimed the original revenue distribution was unfair. Most of Iraq's oil is concentrated in the mainly Shi'ite south and Kurdish north, with little in the predominantly Sunni Arab central region.

The United States views the long-stalled revenue sharing measure as needed for Iraqi national reconciliation. Iraq has the world's third largest oil reserves.

In other news, the U.S. military said insurgents shot down a U.S. helicopter Monday near Baghdad, but attack helicopters rescued the two slightly wounded pilots.

The U.S. military also said today that coalition forces killed three terrorists, including an al-Qaida in Iraq leader, and detained 29 others. Coalition forces also destroyed a cache of chemicals and bomb-making materials during a raid in Taji.