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Car bomb in Iraq kills 13, wounds 33 - sources


    BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb exploded at a car showroom in the Iraqi town of Muqdadiya on Thursday, killing at least 13 people and wounding 33 others, security sources said.

    The blast set fire to about 30 cars at the busy showroom in the town, about 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, the sources said.

    A police officer at the scene said the car had been left at the centre by a man who said he would return soon, and exploded about 30 minutes after he left.

    Police closed off entrances to the town after a report of another possible car bomb, the officer said.

    Violence in Iraq has dropped sharply in recent years following the peak of sectarian warfare in 2006-07, but security forces are still battling a Sunni Islamist insurgency.

    Ethnically and religiously mixed Diyala province saw some of the worst fighting in the war.

    (Reporting by Reuters Television; writing by Jim Loney; editing by Andrew Roche)