Baghdad bomb attack kills eight

The blast hit a small market

At least eight people have been killed and 28 wounded by a bomb in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, security officials have said.

The explosion happened in a crowded area of the Nahda district to the east of the city.

All the dead in the bombing are reported to be civilians.

US and Iraqi forces say they have been working to clean up some areas of the capital as part of a new move to stop insurgent violence.

Washington has sent more US soldiers to Baghdad to aid the mission.

Basra attack

Wednesday's bomb in Baghdad is reported to have hit a small market.

"The bomb exploded beside those people who were just here to earn their living. They were just selling junk," one man, Mohamed Karin, told Reuters news agency.

"An old man with his two kids were killed. What did they do? They were innocent," he said.

In other developments:

• In Basra in the south, armed groups attacked the city council, in what reports say may be a move to avenge a tribal leader killed on Tuesday

• Police say they have killed six insurgents in the northern city of Mosul

On Tuesday, nine Iraqis were killed in a suicide bomb attack on an office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in Mosul.