Baghdad blast kills up to 15

A bomb hidden in a box filled with birds exploded among shoppers strolling through a colorful pet bazaar Friday, killing up to 15 people, wounding dozens and raising fears that a stretch of relative calm in Iraq’s capital has ended.

Deadly violence also erupted north and south of Baghdad, where insurgents appeared intent on sending a message to U.S. and Iraqi officials that their expressions of confidence in Iraq’s security were premature.

This week, the U.S. military said civilian deaths in Baghdad were down 75% since June, when the last of 28,500 additional American troops deployed to Iraq this year arrived. The Iraqi government proclaimed that the drop in civilian deaths and bombings indicated that Baghdad had emerged from its sectarian war.

The attack Friday seemed particularly brutal because it took advantage of residents’ trust in the quieter atmosphere.

With violence down, the government in mid-September ended a ban on vehicular traffic on Fridays, the Muslim sabbath. The prohibition had kept most Iraqis at home on the weekend and left destinations such as the Ghazel pet and livestock market struggling to survive.

That changed once the Friday curfew was relaxed. The pet bazaar in particular, with its exotic birds, tanks of colorful fish, monkeys, cats, dogs, goats and other creatures became a popular spot for shoppers and mere strollers.

Adnan Mohammed, who runs a tool shop across the street, was chatting with friends when the explosion, heard for miles, went off about 9 a.m.

After the blast, he said, smoke poured from the marketplace and bloodied survivors staggered from the scene. Frightened animals scattered, and canaries, pigeons and other birds flew away from their destroyed cages. Television footage showed birds lying dead and a cluster of tiny chicks dyed blue, green and pink twitching on the pavement.

Siaf Shakir was bargaining with customers over the price of his birds when, he said, “a horrible explosion happened.” He was thrown to the ground; one of the four friends he had come to the market with was critically wounded, and another is missing and feared dead in the ruins, he said by phone from Baghdad’s Kindi Hospital.

Casualty figures from police ranged from 13 to 15 dead. The exact number could not be determined. At least 56 people were wounded, authorities said.

Brig. Gen. Qassim Musawi, an Iraqi military spokesman, said the bomb was packed with screws and nails to make it more deadly. He said the bombers apparently entered via a side passage, avoiding checkpoints on the main roads leading to the bazaar.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but such attacks are the hallmark of Sunni Muslim insurgents. The latest bombing was believed to be the worst in Baghdad since the Friday curfew was lifted.

It was the third bombing of the Ghazel bazaar in less than a year and its fourth attack since June 2006. The last bombing occurred in January, shortly before the Bush administration launched its new security plan. As part of the troop buildup, the military introduced a system of “hardening” Baghdad’s many outdoor markets by limiting vehicular access and surrounding them with checkpoints and concrete blast barriers.

Market bombings decreased dramatically over the summer. Friday’s blast followed an uptick in violence in the last week, marked by hits on targets that lately had escaped attack. The assaults included mortar rounds fired into the Green Zone, the fortified enclave in Baghdad that houses the U.S. Embassy and most Iraqi government buildings. Ten rounds were fired there Thursday, the first such barrage since the summer, when the zone faced nearly daily attacks.

No casualties were reported in that incident.

On Wednesday, the capital of Anbar province, Ramadi, which had gone more than two months without a major bombing, was rocked by a blast outside a courthouse that killed six people.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have credited the additional American deployment with helping bring down violence, along with the decision by many Iraqis who once supported insurgents to begin working with U.S. and Iraqi forces. These groups, commonly known as Concerned Citizens or Awakening Councils, have been most effective in Anbar.

But resident Salim Gharib, who witnessed Ramadi’s latest attack, said it had dented his confidence.

Baghdad’s pet market blast was one of several bloody incidents across the country Friday, including a bombing at a police checkpoint in the northern city of Mosul that killed nine people, six of whom were police officers.

South of the capital, near the city of Musayyib, a bomb exploded underneath a car near a mosque and killed at least two people, police Lt. Col. Mohammed Mahawili said.

Police in Musayyib also said that gunmen shot dead a man working as an interpreter for the U.S. military as he walked home Thursday evening.

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tina.susman@latimes.com

Special correspondents in Baghdad, Hillah and Mosul contributed to this report.