Global

North Baghdad car bomb death toll rises to 20



    BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The death toll from a car bomb attack in a busy north Baghdad shopping district on Thursday has risen to 20, an Iraqi security official said, up from an earlier reported 16 killed.

    Baghdad security spokesman Major-General Qassim Moussawi also told Reuters late on Thursday that 37 people were wounded in the blast next to a bus terminal in the mostly Shi'ite district of Shaab, the latest in a series of attacks to strike the Iraqi capital.

    On Wednesday U.S. and Iraqi security officials lauded a sharp drop in violence in Iraq, which they said was lower than any time since mid-2003.

    (Writing by Mohammed Abbas: Editing by Louise Ireland)