Badr, Mahdi militias confront each other after bombing kills 16 in Kufa

Crowds gather at the site of the bombing in Kufa yesterday

KUFA, IRAQ — A suicide car bomber attacked a crowded market in this holy Shiite city Tuesday, killing at least 16 people, injuring more than 70 others and further stoking tensions between rival Shiite militias...

An angry mob that included members of Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr's Al Mahdi army quickly gathered around the blast's crater and loudly blamed the United States and Iraqi police for allowing the attack. Most of the police in Kufa are linked to a rival Shiite militia, the Badr Organization, the armed wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the country's biggest Shiite political party.

The protesters blocked police and other security forces from entering the area. Three ambulances were destroyed, and many of the injured were eventually piled into pickup trucks to be taken to nearby hospitals.

Read the rest at the LA Times

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