> Saturday 8th March, 2008
>
> Death toll in Baghdad bombing rises to 68
> Daniel Schearf Saturday 8th March, 2008
>
> The death toll from twin bombings in Baghdad on Thursday has risen to
> 68 with at least 120 others wounded, including women and children.
>
> The attack was one of the deadliest this year and came as the U.S.
> military announced plans to withdraw 2,000 troops from Baghdad.
>
> Funerals were held Friday for many of those killed in the attack.
>
> Iraqi police say the deadly Thursday night bombings were coordinated
> to inflict maximum civilian casualties.
>
> They say terrorists detonated a bomb planted near a busy market in the
> Karrada neighborhood of Baghdad, killing several people. After a crowd
> gathered to help the wounded, a suicide bomber detonated killing dozens
> more, including a policeman.
>
> Lieutenant Colonial Steve Stover is a U.S. military spokesman in
> Baghdad. "We have a good idea who was behind it," he said. "We know it was
> an al-Qaida cell. We have the name of the individual and we're basically
> going to go out and pursue him until we hunt him down and bring him to
> justice."
>
> The bombings were the latest in a string of deadly attacks that have
> reversed a trend of declining levels of violence in Iraq.
>
> The number of people killed in Iraq had decreased every month since
> June, after 30,000 more U.S. troops arrived in the country.
>
> But Iraq's government last week said the number of civilians killed
> had jumped by a third since January after several deadly bombings.
>
> Last month a suicide bomber killed more than 63 Shiite pilgrims on
> their way to a religious gathering. In early February twin bombings in
> Baghdad pet markets killed about 100 people.
>
> Stover says despite the attacks the U.S. military still plans to
> withdraw at least 2,000 troops from Baghdad.
>
> "We have brigades that are leaving," he added. "They are planned
> withdrawals. We know that the Iraqi security forces are growing not only in
> capacity, but in capability."
>
> Stover says the number of Iraqi security troops in Baghdad has almost
> doubled since 2005 and thousands more Iraqi police are scheduled to be
> deployed.
>
> The U.S. has always maintained it will withdraw troops from Iraq as
> Iraqi forces become larger and more capable.
>
> The U.S. military says it is planning to withdraw thousands more
> troops from Iraq by July.
>
>