Sunni-Shi’ite Jihad Update from AP:
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Car bombs and a rocket barrage struck a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad Sunday, killing at least 47 people and wounding 148. The rockets apparently were fired from a mostly Sunni district targeted by U.S. troops in a crackdown
against the sectarian violence roiling the capital.
Arabic satellite television stations put the toll at 57 in the attack on the Zafraniyah neighborhood in southern Baghdad, which began about 7:15 p.m. with two car bombs and a barrage of an estimated nine rockets, Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Saddoun Abu al-Ula said.
He said the barrage heavily damaged three buildings, including a multistory apartment house that collapsed. Al-Ula said the rockets appeared to have been fired from the neighborhood of Dora, which has been the focus of thousands of U.S. troops sent to try to restore peace in Baghdad.
Police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said 47 people were killed and 148 were wounded. The conflicting death tolls could not immediately be reconciled.
Several large explosions were heard in central Baghdad at sunrise Monday, but it was unclear where they came from.
The complex style of the assault was similar to a July 27 attack of mortars, rockets and car bombs on another mostly Shiite district, Karradah, which killed 31 people. Police said the rockets and mortars that struck Karradah also were fired from
Dora.
A Sunni extremist group, the al-Sahaba Soldiers, claimed responsibility for the Karradah attack to punish Shiites for supporting the “crusaders,” or Americans, and the “treacherous” Iraqi government.