Car bomb and mortars 'kill 27' in Baghdad

BAGHDAD - A car bomb and several mortars ripped through a central Baghdad district on Thursday local time, killing at least 27 people and wounding 101 others, police sources said.

The car bomb, in the shopping district of Karrada, heavily damaged a building, raising fears the death toll could rise, said Ministry of Interior sources. The mortars landed nearby.

Although there have been bombings in Karrada before, the mostly Shi'ite area has been one of the few relatively stable districts of the capital.

US and Iraqi forces have been focussing their efforts on stabilising Baghdad, racked by daily attacks from car bombs, suicide bombers and kidnappers.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told the US congress on Wednesday Iraq would "be the grave of terrorism and terrorists".

But the violence has been unrelenting and the latests blasts left a familiar scene of chaos in the Iraqi capital.

The trial of ousted leader Saddam Hussein, whose loyalists are leading the insurgency against Maliki's government, was adjourned on Thursday until October 16 when a verdict, that can carry the death penalty, is expected to be delivered.

The US military may boost its force in Iraq by delaying the scheduled departure of some troops involved in routine rotations, officials said in Washington on Wednesday.

One defence official said the idea would be to create "a momentary overlap of at least a brigade" - roughly 3500 troops.

Another official said the increase might be "from the low 3000s to the high 4000s".

In his address to congress, Maliki depicted Iraq as central to the war on terrorism, but the Shi'ite Islamist avoided Iraq's growing sectarian killing that has raised fears of all-out civil war.

An average of 100 people a day have died in attacks between factions in the past few weeks.

Instead, he spoke of the past, thanking the United States for toppling Saddam in 2003.

Several Democrats said he glossed over the killing between Shi'ites and Sunnis that they see as the main threat in Iraq and as slowing the withdrawal of US forces.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said it was "hard to find optimism" in the fact most of the violence "is perpetrated by Iraqis against Iraqis". She said Maliki "seemed to be in denial" of the situation.

Tough-talking Maliki vowed to crush the Sunni Arab insurgency and tackle sectarian violence when he was sworn in two months ago.

But like his predecessors, he has failed to ease bloodshed, with militias tied to political parties, including some in his ruling Shi'ite Alliance, acting with impunity and drawing accusations from Sunnis they run death squads.

- REUTERS