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Bomb Kills Eight In Baghdad

A bomb placed near a tea stand killed eight men waiting for day labor in a Shiite area of Baghdad Wednesday. Police say at least eight men were killed and more than 50 wounded in the bombing. Eyewitnesses said a man put down a bag of explosives that detonated near a tea cart.

The attack on the impoverished laborers in the capital`s "New Baghdad" area appeared aimed at further inflaming sectarian tensions in the country, where Shiites and Sunni Arabs accuse one another of reprisal killings and kidnappings. In other areas of the Iraqi capital, U.S. forces have recently handed over sectors of sensitive areas to their Iraqi counterparts in an effort to help get the Iraqi forces self-sufficient and experienced enough to handle their own defense.

Whether or not the move will pay off or lead to more handovers remains to be seen, but with the U.S. and her allies seeming anxious to hand over more and more responsibility for security to the Iraqis themselves, Washington is hoping for success.