A car bomb has detonated in Baghdad's traditional downtown market area killing three people and injuring 10, police said. According to AFP, a second car bomb that had yet to detonate was found in the vicinity and a bomb disposal unit was brought in.
In another attack, a policeman and civilian were killed and 12 other people were wounded Thursday when a bomb targeting a police patrol went off on Palestine Street in the east of the city.
Iraqi police also reported finding 38 bodies scattered around Baghdad over the past 24 hours. All had been shot and most showed signs of torture. In Tikrit, the hometown of former president Saddam Hussein, gunmen shot dead a police lieutenant as he left his house.
Iraq's top Shiite cleric, meanwhile, called on Iraqis to work together to stop sectarian violence, warning that the future of the nation is at stake. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said in a statement that Iraqis had avoided all-out civil war despite attacks on civilians because they belonged to "a certain sect," the AP reported.
Al-Sistani warned that if the violence continues, it "will harm the unity of the people and hinder their hopes of liberation and independence for a long time."
"I call on all those who are keen for the unity and future of this country - religious and political leaders, tribal chiefs and others - to exert maximum efforts to stop the bloodletting," al-Sistani said.
