Twin car bombings in western Baghdad kill 11

BAGHDAD The blasts occurred about 5:30 p.m., shortly before the daily meal that breaks the dawn-to-dusk fast observed by Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan.

Car bombs and other attacks have frequently targeted Iraqis during Ramadan as insurgents try to chip away at recent security gains that have driven violence to its lowest levels in more than four years.

A minibus exploded near a market in the Shurta Rabaa district Sunday, while a car bomb in the Amil neighborhood apparently targeted a parking lot used by shoppers at a nearby market protected by concrete blast walls, police said.

Both areas were formerly mixed neighborhoods that now have a Shiite majority after years of sectarian attacks.

Police and hospital officials, who gave the casualty figures on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information, did not have exact numbers for each incident.

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