Baghdad: A mortar shell hit one of Baghdad's oldest markets on Saturday, killing at least four people and wounding 13, police said.
The attack sparked a fire at the popular Isterbadi market in the predominantly Shiite northern suburb of Kazimiyah, but the blaze was extinguished, police Capt Mohammed al-Waili said.
Elsewhere, a bomb left in a plastic bag struck an outdoor market where secondhand goods are sold in central Baghdad, killing two civilians and wounding 24, police Lt Ahmed Mohamed Ali said. Some of the wounded were in critical condition, he said.
A roadside bomb also missed a police patrol in the Karradah neighborhood in downtown Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding two, police Col. Abbas Mohammed said.
About 20 minutes later, a parked car bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol near the Wathiq Square elsewhere in the neighborhood, killing one Iraqi soldier and wounding 10 people, including two civilians, police Lt. Ali Mitab said.
The series of explosions came a day after a suspected shoe bomber targeting a Shiite imam who criticized Abu Musab al-Zarqawi blew himself up inside one of Baghdad's most prominent mosques during Friday prayers, killing 13 people.
A soldier in the US-led coalition also was killed Friday and two others were missing after an attack on a checkpoint near the town of Yusufiyah, some 12 miles southwest of Baghdad, the US military said.
Iraqi authorities launched a security operation Wednesday, with 75,000 troops fanning out on the streets of Baghdad to try to curb the violence that has devastated the capital of six million people.
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