Two blasts kill 15 people, wound 74 in downtown Baghdad

Two bombs were detonated five minutes apart Tuesday in a used motorcycle marketplace in central Baghdad, killing at least 15 people and wounding 74 others, police said.

Photo: Two blasts kill 15 people, wound 74 in downtown Baghdad

Two blasts kill 15 people, wound 74 in downtown Baghdad

The first bomb was attached to a motorcycle in the market. As the curious gathered to look at the aftermath, a suicide car bomber drove into the crowd and blew up his vehicle.

Authorities said at least three policemen were among the dead.

The blast appeared to target the mainly Shiite neighborhood near the market but also was near the Sheik al-Gailani shrine, one of the holiest Sunni locations in the capital, reports AP.

Raad Abbas, a 26-year-old who received shrapnel wounds in the attacks, said he had gone to the market because the city had been quieter over the past two weeks.

"Shortly after midday, I heard an explosion. Motorcycles were flying in the air, people were falling dead and wounded.

"Some people were trying to help me when I heard the second explosion. The next thing I knew, I woke up here in the hospital," Abbas said from his bed in al-Kindi Hospital.