BAGHDAD ? Iraqi officials say the death toll from a string of blasts in a Shiite neighborhood in southwestern Baghdad has jumped to 34.
Two police officials said the bombs targeted a Shiite mosque as well as a market Thursday evening.
The officials said that 82 people were also injured in the explosions.
Officials from the hospitals where the dead and injured were taken confirmed the casualty figures.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Sunni extremists such as al-Qaida in Iraq generally tend to target Shiite mosques and neighborhoods.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
BAGHDAD (AP) ? Three bombs ripped through a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad Thursday evening, killing 21 people, while an American civilian contractor was killed in another attack, Iraqi and U.S. officials said.
The violence underscored the fragile nature of the security gains in Iraq at a time when American forces are preparing to withdraw by the end of this year and the challenges facing the State Department personnel and American contractors who would continue on after the U.S. military is gone.
The bombs in southwestern Baghdad went off shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday in quick succession. One targeted a Shiite mosque, another exploded just outside a popular market, while the third went off inside the market where people were doing their evening shopping ahead of the Muslim weekend, Iraqi police officials said.
The officials said 42 people were injured in the blasts. An official from Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital confirmed the casualty figures.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Sunni extremists such as al-Qaida in Iraq generally tend to target Shiite mosques and neighborhoods.
The American civilian killed earlier Thursday was working for an agency working with the U.S. government, said David J. Ranz, the spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
"An American civilian working with an implementing partner of the United States Agency for International Development in Iraq was killed in a terrorist attack today in Baghdad. Three additional civilians were wounded in the attack, including one American citizen," he said.
The name of the victim was being withheld until relatives are notified, Ranz said.
He gave no information about where or when the attack took place.
Iraqi police officials in eastern Baghdad said a bomb exploded near foreign security company vehicles traveling through eastern Baghdad early Thursday afternoon, killing one foreigner in the convoy and injuring three other people.
Earlier this week, a convoy carrying French Embassy staff was targeted by a roadside bomb in the Karradah neighborhood. No one was killed in that incident.
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