Iraq's government renewed its pledge to crack down on armed groups after a massive suicide truck bombing attack killed 135 people in a mainly Shi'ite area of Baghdad. More than 300 people were injured in the explosion, caused when the bomber drove his truck, packed with one ton of explosives, into the crowded market. Saturday's attack was the deadliest single bombing since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed the blast in Sadriya market on Saddam Hussein supporters and other Sunni groups. "We are determined to root out (the perpetrators of) these crimes and cut off their roots, their sources and their supporters," Maliki's office said in a statement late on Saturday, cited by Reuters.
In fresh violence on Sunday, a mortar bomb killed a woman and two children in a mixed neighbourhood in central Baghdad, residents said.
