Bombings kill 9, injuring 35 in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Two bombings rocked an Iraqi town east of capital Baghdad on Thursday morning, killing nine people and injuring 35 others, police sources said.

The bombings hit an area in Sadr City, 50 km east of Baghdad. Most of the victims are workers who had gathered there seeking temporary daily jobs.

Among the injured, some sustained serious wounds and the number of dead could rise further, police sources added.

Thursday's bombings are the latest in a string of bloody attacks that have rocked Iraq in the last three weeks after the United States withdrew the last batch of its forces from the country on December 18.

The U.S. withdrawal, demanded and welcomed by most Iraqis, has left a dangerous security vacuum in the conflicts-ridden Arab country.

Many Iraqis are worried about a resurgence of ethnic and sectarian violence that once nearly torn the country apart a few years ago.