Scores die in 2 Baghdad blasts

Bombs tore through two popular pet markets here Friday, killing 77 people, in the worst violence to hit Baghdad since a U.S. troop buildup reached its peak in July.

The apparently coordinated attacks, occurring within 10 minutes of each other, were reminiscent of large-scale suicide bombings before the buildup and underscored what U.S. military officials have warned are the shifting tactics of insurgents. At least one of the attackers was a woman with explosives strapped to her. Some Iraqi police officials said women carried the bombs at both markets.

American and Iraqi officials say such methods are signs that insurgents loyal to the militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq are struggling to recruit Iraqi men, and are also finding it difficult to maneuver large vehicle-borne bombs past checkpoints. They say insurgents have been forced to resort to other types of attacks, such as the targeting of volunteer security workers who form the backbone of U.S. efforts to bolster American and Iraqi forces.

Since November, at least five women have been used to carry explosives that killed themselves and others. They include the one who hit central Baghdad’s Ghazel pet bazaar Friday. An Iraqi military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Qassim Musawi, told Iraqi television that the woman was mentally disabled and that the explosives were detonated by remote control, but he offered no proof.

The U.S. military described the assailant as a female suicide bomber.

The increased use of suicide vests is highlighted in U.S. military statistics on Iraq’s violence. In October, six such incidents were recorded. The number rose to eight in November, 10 in December and 15 in January. Vehicle-borne bombings fell each month, from 45 in October to 24 for Jan. 1 to Jan. 25, the last date included in the military report.

U.S. military and Iraqi officials note that overall attack and civilian casualty numbers are at their lowest levels since the spring of 2005. But they say the state of security still is “tenuous.” Iraqis, analysts and U.S. military commanders acknowledge that Iraq could turn more violent again if the government does not make progress in easing tensions between Sunni Arabs and Shiites.

“I am indeed optimistic, but at the same time I’m realistic. This place could go back,” said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, who commands U.S. forces in the strategic belts south of Baghdad.

Other factors most commonly cited as having the potential to derail security gains are withdrawing U.S. forces too quickly and impatience by Sunni security volunteers who have allied themselves with U.S. and Iraqi forces. Many such volunteers once supported the insurgency, but they now are being targeted by those groups.

“We are essentially hanging in the balance,” said Aseel Abdullah, a Baghdad accountant. When asked to rate security on a scale of 1 to 10, he gave it a 5 and said it would not improve until political leaders improve life for Iraqis.

“People can only take so much, and sooner or later they will decide they have had enough and revert back to violence,” he said.

Friday’s violence was a reminder of what that would be like for Baghdad residents, who in recent months have begun to enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle. Nightly curfews have been eased, and restrictions have been lifted that kept vehicles off the streets on Fridays, the Muslim day off.

The Ghazel pet market is a favorite place to spend Fridays. It also is a favorite target of insurgents looking to inflict high casualties. This was the second bombing there since late November and the fifth since June 2006.

Ahmed Jimaa Badr, 30, was at the market Friday against the wishes of his wife and parents, who felt that security still was too shaky. But Badr, whose hobby is raising pigeons, wanted to buy some new birds. He chose four and entered a pigeon expert’s shop to ensure that one of the birds was a male, for breeding purposes.

“When the man was examining the bird, a very huge explosion rocked the area,” Badr said. The shop windows shattered, and the bird flew away. “I saw white smoke and a hill of bodies, and a lot of animals.”

The smell of gunpowder mixed with that of burned flesh, and the heat from the blast sent the temperature inside the little shop soaring, “as if it is July,” said Badr, who helped evacuate wounded people to hospitals.

In the Ghazel blast, police said at least 37 people died and 83 were injured.

Minutes later, a blast rocked a smaller market specializing in birds in the southeastern part of the city.

That attack killed at least 27 and wounded 67, including a 17-year-old named Haider who said his life was saved by sacks of bird seed that stopped flying shrapnel.

Haider, who gave only his first name, said he was about 120 feet from the blast. “Birds scattered here and there. A great ball of fire came out of the place where the explosion was,” he said.

Musawi said both bombs were carried by women, but a police official late Friday said the second blast was from a bomb hidden in a box of eggs.

Officials said early today that 13 people had died overnight in hospitals, but it wasn’t known in which of the attacks they had been injured.

The attacks come as U.S. military officials weigh how to pull troops from Iraq without losing the security gains achieved since July, when the last of 28,500 extra American forces arrived in the country. The extra combat power was intended to quell violence and give Iraqi politicians a stable environment in which to work toward reconciliation.

It also enabled troops to launch a series of offensives that flushed insurgents out of Baghdad and neighboring Anbar province and led to large declines in violence in those areas.

But the White House plan calls for withdrawing the additional troops by July, and one brigade of about 5,500 soldiers already has left. As more leave, Iraqi security forces will have to fill the gaps, along with the security volunteers.

Army Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, chief American military spokesman in Iraq, said the increased attacks on the volunteers “was perhaps one of the clearest indications of the importance” of their role helping U.S. and Iraqi forces.

An attack on a volunteer group leader last month in north Baghdad illustrated insurgents’ latest adjustments, said Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, who commands U.S. forces in the capital. A bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up next to the leader. The convoy rushing the man to the hospital was then hit by a car bomb. At least 14 people died, including the group leader.

“That’s the first time I’ve seen a suicide vest and [car bomb] coordinated attack,” Hammond said.

Nobody knows if Iraqi forces are ready to take on the job of security, or if the volunteer groups will remain loyal to Iraq’s government once Americans are gone. Most of the volunteers are Sunni Muslims, and there is no guarantee that the Shiite-run government will find jobs for them once their services are no longer needed.

“Say I’m a Sunni . . . and I’m paid to provide security,” Hammond said. “If one day that job were to disappear, I’d still have a requirement to sustain my family. There’s no doubt that there are bad people out there who’d be willing to offer me money to fill that [financial] gap.”

Iraqis as well as outside experts say no amount of military power will end the violence until Iraq’s Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders resolve their differences, and until the government improves basic services such as power and water.

“These different factions have to come together and resolve their issues, but it doesn’t seem like that’s happening any time soon,” said Leith Sattar, who runs a cellphone shop in Baghdad’s relatively secure Karada neighborhood.

“Sure, Karada is safe compared to other areas, but until when?” he said. “Everyone is a target.”

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tina.susman@latimes.com

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Times staff writer Said Rifai and special correspondents in Baghdad contributed to this report.