By Xinhua
Baghdad : The death toll from the two bombs that went off in quick succession late Thursday in a busy business place in central Baghdad has risen to 54 with nearly 125 injured, a police source said.
According to the source, a roadside bomb exploded in the commercial Attar street in the capital’s business district of Kharada. When the security forces and civilians gathered at the site, a suicide bomber blew himself up causing the mass casualty, he said.
Several cars and shops were damaged in the blasts, he said and added that the number of fatality could rise.
The security condition in Iraq has improved since last summer, mainly attributed to the surge of US troops, the Sunnis’ uprising against Al Qaeda terrorist network and the ceasefire of a major Shia militia.
However, official statistics showed that civilian deaths grew by more than 30 percent in February compared with January due to a string of large-scale suicide bombings.
The US military has warned that Al-Qaeda remains the leading security threat in the country.