March 14, 2008	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 5, 1429

BAGHDAD, March 13: A bomber detonated his explosives-laden car in central Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 18 people, as Iraqi police and soldiers searched for another possible attacker who accompanied him.

The bomber blew up his BMW car in the Iraqi capital’s Bab al-Sharji area at around 2:00 pm (1100 GMT), security officials said.

Medics at Baghdad’s three hospitals, Al-Kindi, Ibn Nafis and Medical City, confirmed that at least 18 people were killed and 64 others wounded in the powerful blast that damaged dozens of nearby shops.

Soon after the blast police and soldiers were searching the area for the bomber’s accomplice, a reporter at the scene said.

A local shopkeeper said that the two men parked their car in front of his shop and one of them stepped out, while the other remained seated in the vehicle.

“I went up to the man in the car and asked him to move it. He said ‘Just have patience. I will move in a minute as I am waiting for my friend.’ A few seconds later the car exploded,” the shopkeeper said, adding the blast happened just after he had returned to his shop.

“I fainted in my shop from the impact of the explosion. I woke up after somebody threw water on my face. I miraculously escaped the bombing,” he said.

More than a dozen shops in the vicinity were damaged, and the street was carpeted in broken glass. Pools of blood, burnt clothes and debris were seen at the site amid an acrid smell of burning, while nervous Iraqi and American soldiers pushed the crowd away from the scene, the correspondent said.

At the site of the blast the burnt engine of the car could be seen as the stench of burnt flesh filled the air.

Soon after the blast police sealed off the area and asked the crowd to go away from the scene. They urged people to be alert as they were hunting for the accomplice of the bomber.

One of the police officers at the site refused to confirm the casualties but said: “Somebody died right here where you are standing,” as he pointed to a patch of blood. A number of shopkeepers were seen cleaning the debris and splintered glass from in front of their shops.

“I am hit by broken pieces of glass on my head,” said a burly shopkeeper, his shirt drenched in blood, as he spoke on a mobile phone with his family.

Another shopkeeper said this was the second time his shop was struck by a bomb attack.

Police also sealed off entry to a nearby building fearing the accomplice was hiding in it, the correspondent said.

Insurgents have stepped up attacks in Baghdad since February after a lull in violence since the middle of last year.—AFP