At least 32 killed in Baghdad blasts

BAGHDAD, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A series of explosions in and around Baghdad Sunday killed at least 31 people and injured dozens, officials said.

The bombings occurred shortly after the traditional Islamic meal of Iftar, CNN reported. Iftar is a ceremonial meal during Ramadan in which Muslims are allowed temporarily to end their traditional fast.

The explosions came at a time when people are returning in large numbers to markets to buy food for the Iftar meal, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

"We are innocent and peaceful people," Hidar Abdulhussein, who suffered a broken leg in a bombing at a market in west Baghdad, told the Times. "Why are they targeting markets and shoppers?"

Officials said 11 people were killed in an explosion in west Baghdad, set off by a minivan rigged with explosives. A half hour later, two explosions in the Karada district of east Baghdad killed at least 20 people and left at least 72 injured.

Police said the first Karada attack appeared to be the work of a suicide bomber while the second, minutes after the first, was a car bomb.

Sunday also featured protests in Baghdad by members of Iraq's Christian minority against a newly passed election law that does not guarantee seats on provincial councils for minority representatives, the Times said.