75 killed in Baghdad's twin blast

Smoke rises from the site of two explosions in central Baghdad, Jan. 22, 2007. (AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BAGHDAD, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The death toll rose to 52 people killed and up to 77 others wounded in the two car bomb blasts in central Baghdad on Monday, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

    "Our latest report said that 52 people were killed and 77 others wounded," the source said on condition of anonymity.

    "The two blast were caused by two car bombs parking in the commercial area of Bab al-Sharji at about 12:30 p.m. (0930 GMT), "the source told Xinhua earlier.

    "The first blast went off in the busy market where vendors peddling DVDs and secondhand clothes and the other was just few meters away," he elaborated, adding that many civilian cars caught fire by the blasts and many nearby shops and buildings damaged.

    Iraq: 25 U.S. soldiers killed in one day

    BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Four U.S. soldiers and a Marine were killed Saturday during combat in Anbar, a roadside bomb struck a security patrol northeast of Baghdad, killing one soldier, 12 soldiers died in a Blackhawk helicopter crash northeast of Baghdad, five were killed in a militant attack in the holy Shiite city of Karbala and two others slain elsewhere in roadside bombings as 25 soldiers were killed in the deadliest day for U.S. troops in Iraq in two years.

    The dramatically rising death toll among U.S. forces comes at a critical time of increasing congressional opposition to President Bush's decision to dispatch 21,500 additional soldiers to the conflict.

    The U.S. military statement about the Karbala attack said "an illegally armed militia group" attacked the provincial headquarters building with grenades, small arms and "indirect fire," which usually means mortars or rockets. Full Story