BASRA, Iraq, (Reuters) – The explosion of a power generator, possibly triggered by a bomb, at a busy market in Iraq’s southern oil hub Basra on Saturday killed dozens of people and wounded scores more, morgue and security sources said.
A source at the city’s morgue said at least 25 bodies had been taken there. A security source who asked not to be identified said the toll was 45 killed and 162 wounded while a hospital source said 16 had died and at least 110 were wounded.
Witnesses reported that two or three explosions struck the popular market in the centre of Basra and two security sources said at least one of the blasts was the detonation of a car bomb. Basra Police Chief Adil Daham told al-Hurra television the explosion was caused by a malfunctioning generator.
“We’re investigating the cause. We don’t know whether it was a terrorist attack or something else,” said Ali al-Maliki, the head of the security committee in the Basra council.
Firefighters and ambulances rushed to the scene, the central al-Ashaar market in one of Iraq’s largest cities. Fierce flames and smoke could be seen.
“There were three explosions in this very crowded area,” lawmaker Hussein Talib told Reuters television at the scene. “There were women and children and poor vendors.”
“As a lawmaker from Basra I hold the military and police leadership responsible for the blood that has been shed.”
Oil-rich Iraq has remained in a political void since an inconclusive March 7 election while Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish political factions try to sort out a coalition government.
