Car bomb leaves 30 casualties in central Baghdad

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: At least ten persons were killed and 20 others were injured on Thursday in a car bomb explosion in central Baghdad, a police source said. “A car rigged with explosives went off targeting the motorcade of the labor and social affairs minister in al-Tahrir square in central Baghdad, killing 10 and injuring 20,” the source told IraqiNews.com. Baghdad is the capital of Iraq and Baghdad province. With a municipal population estimated at 7,000,000, it is the largest city in Iraq. It is the second largest city in the Arab world (after Cairo) and the second largest city in southwest Asia (after Tehran). Located on the Tigris River, the city dates back to at least the 8th century, and probably to pre-Islamic times. Once the center of Dar al-Islam (the abode of Islam), Baghdad has been a center of violent conflict since 2003 because of the ongoing Iraq war. Baghdad’s population is a mix of Sunnis and Shiites. It is mainly divided into two sides: the west (al-Karkh) and the east (al-Rasafa). SH (P) 1