29 killed in Iraq car bomb blast

Baghdad: At least 29 people were killed on Wednesday, most of them in a Baghdad car bomb attack, a day after multiple bombings in Iraq left 64 dead and revived fears of civil war.

Bombers struck again in Baghdad's multi-confessional southeastern neighbourhood of Jadid at about midday, killing 23 and wounding 58 by blowing up a car on the main road, which also housed a market.

Six others were killed in separate bombings and shootings across Iraq Wednesday, leaving a total of 29 dead by afternoon. At least 78 were wounded in all these attacks.

The upsurge in violence reinforced fears of a return to the inter communal bloodletting that followed the bombing of a Shiite shrine last week that left hundreds dead and threatened to bring the formation of a new government to a halt.

One of the bloodiest attacks was a car bomb that blew up Tuesday evening outside a Shiite mosque in Baghdad's northwestern al-Hurriya neighborhood, killing 25 people.

The blast followed just hours after three bombs went off Tuesday morning in quick succession in mixed Shiite-Sunni areas in the capital, killing at least 30 people.

The new violence jolted feverish US and Iraqi efforts to restore stability to Iraq after lifting a curfew and traffic ban Monday, meant to quell the sectarian tensions.

US State Department's coordinator on Iraq James Jeffrey said US and Iraqi security forces had brought the situation under control nearly a week after the bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine touched off a burst of communal carnage.

"Right now, by Iraq's standards, it's calm and back to normal," Jeffrey told reporters on Tuesday after six days of interconfessional bloodletting.

US President George W. Bush, however, expressed worry Tuesday over the turbulent situation.

"The people of Iraq and their leaders must make a choice. The choice is chaos or unity," Bush said, even as he declined to say how the unrest would affect US plans to lower troop levels this year.

Meanwhile, Wednesday's hearing of the trial of Saddam Hussein took an odd turn as prosecutors produced a letter purportedly showing that the former Iraqi dictator spared the lives of two Shiites accused over an assassination bid.