Karada blast casualties rise further; 18 killed, 80 wounded

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Casualties from the car bomb blast that hit Baghdad’s area of al-Karada earlier today have reached 98, the Iraqi police said on Tuesday. “The toll includes 18 dead and 80 others wounded,” a police source told IraqiNews.com news agency. Earlier in the day, a police source said that a suicide bomber detonated his car bomb near the Criminal Evidence Department in Baghdad’s al-Tahariyat Square, killing two civilians and wounding 10 others, according to an initial count. A spokesperson for the Baghdad Operations Command (BOC), Staff Maj. Gen. Qassem Ata, said that the majority of the casualties were personnel from the Criminal Evidence Department. On Monday (Jan. 25), three car bombs went off near Sheraton, al-Hamraa and Babel hotels in Baghdad, killing 36 persons and wounding 71 others. SS (P) 3