Three bomb attacks in Baghdad have killed at least 80 people and injured more than 150. The attackers placed 2 devices in parked cars 100 metres apart. In an attempt to cause more casualties they exploded within 15 minutes of each other.
A plume of black smoke hundreds of feet wide filled central Baghdad after the attack near the Shorja market district.Shorja market was once Baghdad's main shopping area, but amid the violent division of Iraq's religious communities it has become a largely Shia district.The attack coincided with the first anniversary of the Samarra mosque bombing, which led to a sharp increase in sectarian violence.It also came as the country's high court sentenced Saddam Hussein's former Vice President, Taha Yassin Ramadan, to death by hanging.The sentence was passed for his role in the killing of 148 Shia Muslims from the town of Dujail in the 1980s.