Bombs ravage Baghdad markets, killing 88

By Ibon Villelabeitia

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Bombs laid waste to crowded markets in central Baghdad on Monday killing 88 people as Iraqis marked the first anniversary of a Shi'ite shrine bombing that pushed the country to the brink of civil war.

The blasts took place about the time Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, in remarks commemorating the bombing of the Samarra mosque, warned that Iraq had no future unless a U.S.- backed offensive against militants in Baghdad succeeded.

In the deadliest attack, simultaneous blasts pulverized Shorja market, Baghdad's oldest, killing 79 people, destroying vendor stalls and setting ablaze an eight-story warehouse. Police said 165 people were wounded.

The Shorja market, the main supplier for countless small shops in Baghdad and central Iraq, has been bombed frequently.

A separate roadside bomb at the Bab al-Sharji market, also in central Baghdad, killed nine people and wounded 21.

The timing of the noon bombings, on the anniversary by the Islamic calendar of the destruction of the Golden Dome Mosque, appeared aimed at fanning sectarian strife as U.S. and Iraq forces step up a security plan in the capital, seen as a last chance to avert all-out war between majority Sh'ites and Sunnis.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said three car bombs exploded in quick succession at Shorja.

However, Major-General Abdul Rasool al-Zaidi from the Civil Defense Authority told state television the carnage was caused by five simultaneous roadside bombs around the warehouse.

Huge clouds of black smoke and flames belched from the building, which houses wholesale clothing merchants, turning a cloudless day into night in the debris-strewn street.

The blasts echoed across Baghdad and reduced stalls to mangled wrecks. People with wooden carts carried wounded survivors with bandaged legs, arms and heads. By nightfall columns of thick smoke still loomed over the city. There were reports that the blasts had ignited a plastics market.

"I saw three bodies shredded apart. Paramedics were picking up body pieces and human flesh from the pools of blood on the ground and placing them in small plastic bags," said witness Wathiq Ibrahim. "The smoke turned the place dark."

The Interior Ministry spokesman said three suspects had been arrested.

One old woman cursed Maliki's government. "They've killed all our sons. What have they left for us?" she shouted.

RESTRAINT URGED

Maliki, who has pledged to crush militants regardless of their sect, said Iraqi security forces were gradually stepping up their deployment in Baghdad.