Car bomb leaves 35 dead in southern Iraq

The blast is the latest in a series of high-profile explosions that have raised concerns about a resurgence of violence as the US military faces a June 30 deadline to withdraw from urban areas in Iraq. The explosives-laden car was parked in the center of the commercial area in the town of Bathaa when it blew up around 9 a.m., according to police. Angry townspeople swarmed around police in the wake of the attack, cursing and blaming them for failing to prevent the bombing. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, but car bombings are a signature of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The US military has warned Al-Qaeda could be expected to try to foment sectarian violence in a bid to upset security gains ahead of the US withdrawal. Persistent violence as the Americans begin to withdraw has raised new questions about the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over their own security. Officials gave conflicting death tolls yesterday, as is common in the chaotic aftermath of bombings in Iraq. They also faced the difficulty of gathering information from a small town. A spokesman for the Nasiriyah hospital, Kadhim Al-Obeidi, said 35 people were killed and 45 wounded; Kazinform cites the Arab News. See www.arabnews.com for full version