Pet market bomb kills 13 in Baghdad

A bomb hidden in a box containing birds exploded at a popular pet market in central Baghdad today, killing at least 13 people and foiling tentative hopes for a return to near normal life in the city.

The device, which exploded just before 9am (6am GMT) in the al-Ghazl market, also injured about 60 people, including four policemen.

While the market has been attacked before - a bomb in late January killed 15 people - its popularity has returned as violence has gradually declined since the beginning of a US-led security crackdown in the Iraqi capital in February. Numbers have also increased due to the lifting of a four-hour driving ban on Fridays to protect weekly prayer services from car bombings.

One trader, who was about 150 metres from the blast, said he had only reopened his business last week at the market, which sells birds, dogs, cats, sheep, goats, snakes and monkeys.

The throng of stalls, customers and food vendors "was giving the impression that life is back to normal again, but about 9 o'clock, we heard the sound of an explosion", he told the Associated Press.

He described a scene of chaos, with birds flying into a sky filled with smoke and the bodies of young men littering the ground.

"We helped evacuating some of them, then the Iraqi police and army came and told us to evacuate the place because they feared another explosion could take place," he said.

The blast was one of the deadliest attacks in Baghdad in weeks, following a period in which many locals had begun to hope the security "surge", which reached its full strength in mid-June, had brought about a long-term decline in violence.

Iraqis have been going to markets and to restaurants at night, both unheard of at the height of the violence last year.