Bomb kills 26, wounds 60 in Baghdad Sadr City

An explosive-charge detonated early on Monday among a crowd of laborers gathering in Baghdad Sadr City neighborhood, killing 26 of them and wounding 60 others, a well-informed Interior Ministry source said.

"Up to 26 were killed and 60 others wounded when a makeshift bomb went off in the 55th Square at the Sadr City neighborhood where dozens of poor laborers gathered waiting for daily jobs," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. troops sealed off the neighborhood for the sixth day searching for a U.S. soldier of Iraqi origin who was allegedly kidnapped by Mehdi militiamen.

The Shiite slum in Sadr City is a stronghold for the Mehdi army whose members are loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al- Sadr.

Source: Xinhua