U.S.: Shiite cell possibly involved in deadly Iraq blast

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A car bombing that killed dozens Tuesday in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad may have been conducted by a militant trying to incite Shiite violence against Sunnis, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

Relatives wait to claim the bodies of suicide bombing victims outside a Baghdad hospital Wednesday.

Authorities said Wednesday that 63 people died in the strike and 71 others were wounded. Of the dead, four were women and five were children. Among the wounded were 11 women and 12 children.

The blast happened when a minibus detonated at a garage and a bus stop in the Hurriya neighborhood, ripping through a nearby market and buildings.

Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a U.S. military spokesman, said the military believes Haydar Mehdi Khadum al Fawadi, a leader of an Iranian-backed Shiite militant cell, was involved.

"Our intelligence, corroborated through multiple sources, is this atrocity was committed" by a cell led by al Fawadi, Stover said.

"We believe he ordered the attack to incite Shia violence against Sunnis," said Stover, who called al Fawadi a "murderous thug."

 

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