The Iraqi authorities have accused the Ba'th party and Al-Qaeda in the April 29 bombings in three marketplaces in the Shi'ite Sadr City neighborhood in Baghdad, in which some 50 were killed and 100 wounded.

Baghdad operational command spokesman Gen. Qasim Ata said that the attacks were planned for Saddam Hussein's birthday, the previous day, but that security measures at the site had prevented them from being carried out.

Source: Al-Quds Al-Arabi, London, May 1, 2009