Perspective: Scenes From Another Deadly Bombing in Baghdad

Above: A policeman secures the area as bodies are covered. Below: A body burned beyond recognition.

BAGHDAD, Jan. 4 — The foot was balanced on a shopping bag after being scooped up off the dirty street by a man in a track suit. There was no person to go with the limb. Nearby, a charred body was still smoldering, with smoke coming off the black carcass some 45 minutes after the attack. For fifty yards, the dead were scattered about, some in pieces, some whole but badly burnt.

One day, one attack, and totally typical in Baghdad.

This bit of violence involved two bombs timed to go off one after the other in what was once an upscale neighborhood, Mansour, an area of the city that is now ripped apart by sectarian violence. There were 13 people killed and 22 injured, just a small fraction of the number of civilians killed across the country this week.

The first device was set off at about 10:15 a.m. It was probably a roadside bomb attached to a timer, officials said.

The target was a gasoline station, where cars were lined up around the block waiting for fuel and where dozens of people on foot, grasping large plastic jugs, hoped to buy badly needed heating fuel at legal prices.

Just moments after the first explosion, a second, larger bomb detonated in a car.

Read the rest at the NY Times