By Xinhua
Baghdad : Three civilians were killed and 10others injured during a hand grenade explosion in a popular market near the city of Najaf, 160 km south of Baghdad, on Saturday, a medical source said.
“Unknown gunman threw a hand grenade on a crowd of people in a popular market in Kufa, killing three civilians and wounding ten others,” a source from the Furat al-Awsat public hospital told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Women and children were among the casualties, the source said, adding that Iraqi security forces immediately cordoned off the area in the holy town of Kufa.
Kufa, 10 km northeast of Najaf, is a stronghold for the Mahdi Army militia loyal to radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Violence continues infesting Iraq despite the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers across the country in a major security crackdown on insurgency and sectarian violence.