Of 160 people killed in the first of two days of bombings in Baghdad, 112 were day laborers gathered in a heavily Shiite neighborhood in search of work. A car bomber pretending to offer jobs waited until a large group had gathered around the vehicle before detonating the explosives.

In another instance a bomber smashed his car into other vehicles at an intersection and detonated his explosives as a crowd gathered, killing 15. Two other car bombings killed 26 people. An Iraqi and a U.S. military convoy were targeted, killing three Iraqi soldiers and wounding three U.S. troops.

Since an electoral bloc backed by Iraq's top Shiite cleric won a majority in the government in elections last January, Baathist forces have relied on the bombings, in part, as a way of strengthening their negotiating position. The bombings, which focused on Shiite mosques and shopping centers with the aim of disrupting the election and the subsequent formation of the Iraqi government, largely failed. Wealthy Sunnis who had been the backbone of Saddam Hussein’s regime concluded that it had been an error to boycott the elections in January.

As voter registration by Sunni Muslims has soared prior to an October 15 national referendum on Iraq’s draft constitution, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, warned that anyone who goes to the polls will be a target. The group has taken responsibility for numerous attacks on U.S. troops and Iraqi soldiers and civilians, car bombings, kidnappings, and beheadings of hostages.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq has not taken direct responsibility for the most recent bombings. However, a statement posted on the Internet attributed to the group welcomed the start of “revenge battles,” according to the Washington-based SITE Institute, which monitors internet postings by Islamic Jihadist groups.

An audio recording on the site said to be al-Zarqawi's voice said that as a result of the U.S.-led attack on Tall Afar, al-Qaeda decided to launch a “comprehensive war on the Shiites all over Iraq.”

Baathist armed groups were forced to abandon Tall Afar following a weeklong U.S. bombing that cleared the way for some 5,000 Iraqi troops supported by 3,500 U.S. soldiers to enter the area. U.S. army major Chris Kennedy said the bombings were the reason the U.S-led forces had not met expected resistance. The U.S. military said that 371 Baathists had been killed and 1,163 detained in the operation as of September 15.  
 
 
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