BAGHDAD (AFP) — A bomb ripped through a crowd of civilians at a public square in eastern Baghdad on Thursday, shattering the calm on the first day of Ramadan and killing at least four people, Iraqi officials said.
The bomb exploded on Square 83 in Baghdad's northeastern Shiite district of Talbiyah, interior and defence ministry officials said.
The interior ministry said four people were killed and 10 wounded while a defence ministry official put the toll at six killed and 18 wounded.
Iraqi authorities have stepped up security measures for Ramadan, which for Sunni Arabs in Iraq began on Thursday. For the Shiite majority, the holy fasting month will begin on Friday.
"Orders have been given to the Iraqi police to be extra alert. They have been told to observe any dubious gatherings or inform bomb squads immediately if they see any car parked on sidewalks," an interior ministry official said.
Since the US-led invasion in March 2003, insurgents and militia have used Ramadan as an occasion to launch spectacular bomb attacks on civilians or security force targets.
Baghdad, the epicentre of Shiite-Sunni conflict, is already under a massive security crackdown by US and Iraqi forces as part of a troop "surge" strategy launched in February.
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