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McClatchy It was just another car bomb, this time an old, blue Volkswagen Passat that blew up in a busy shopping district of Baghdad, one of four that killed and maimed Iraqi civilians Monday.
But the array of first responders who descended on the smoke-filled scene exemplified how militants aren't the only force that's undermining the plan to restore order to the violent Iraqi capital.
After the blast near a busy shrine in the mostly Shiite Muslim area of Karrada, Iraqi firefighters, medical workers, Iraqi police, traffic police, Iraqi soldiers, American troops, members of two powerful Shiite militias and ordinary residents jostled for control. With so many forces picking through the charred, bloody wreckage, no single group emerged as the one in charge, and the already frenzied scene spiraled into pandemonium.
The bombings occurred on the eve of long-anticipated talks between U.S. and Iranian officials on ways to reduce the rampant bloodletting in Iraq. Three parked cars, including the Volkswagen, blew up within an hour Monday morning; a fourth detonated that afternoon outside a Kurdish restaurant near an entrance to the fortified Green Zone.
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