Baghdad bombing kills at least 2 Iraqi laborers, wounds 7

(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-20 13:55

A bomb exploded in central Baghdad early Monday and killed at least two laborers and wounded seven others, police said.

The explosion happened near Liberation Square in the Bab Sharqi area shortly before 8 a.m. where a group of men were waiting for daily work, said police Lt. Ali Mutib.

Ambulances with sirens blaring sped to the bomb scene, where at least two people were killed and seven wounded, Mutib said. Police expected the casualty toll to rise.

At least three shop fronts were blown out by the blast and several cars were badly damaged. It was not immediately clear what kind of bomb caused the blast, but police suspected it was a homemade explosive device left near the workers.

Impoverished Iraqi workers, normally Shiites, have been targeted previously in the country's increasingly random campaign of violence. On. Feb 1, a bomb killed eight men waiting for day labor in a largely Shiite area of Baghdad.