Car bomb in Shiite area of Iraqi capital kills 9; officials warn of likelihood of more bombings

A car bomb in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad killed at least nine people and wounded 18 others on Tuesday, a day after a deadly wave of bombings swept the Iraqi capital and raised concerns that Iraqi forces were ill-prepared to secure the city as U.S. troops thin out.

The Interior Ministry, meanwhile, warned of the likelihood of more car bombings, saying measures were being taken to try to prevent them.

A parked car rigged with explosives went off around noon Tuesday on a busy commercial street in the Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah, not far from a mosque where midday prayers were under way.

Asad Raad, who sells motorbikes at a nearby shop nearby, said he rushed out to a car ignited by the explosion and grabbed a crying baby boy out of the flames through a shattered window.

The baby’s dead mother was still inside the car while a badly burned man, presumed to be the father, was taken to hospital. Raad said he took the baby boy, who had minor burns to the face, to his home and would care for the infant.

“I cannot just stand still and watch this,” Raad said.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, and police officials would not speculate on possible targets. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

The blast came as Baghdad was still reeling from Monday’s bombings, which killed 37 people and wounded more than 100 others in a stunning sequence of attacks from one end of the city to the other. The bombings targeted busy marketplaces, a police convoy ferrying a senior security officer and day laborers seeking work.

Those attacks also occurred in Shiite neighborhoods.