Al-Qaeda affiliate behind bombings

A militant umbrella body affiliated to al-Qaeda claimed responsibility on Sunday for some of the bombings that killed 43 people in and near Baghdad on Saturday in defiance of a security clampdown.

The Mujahideen Shura Council, which had pledged to continue what it described as the holy war against crusader forces, said in a statement it was behind four Baghdad bombs on Saturday, out of the seven reported by police.

Meanwhile, gunmen abducted 10 workers from a bakery in northwest Iraq.