The body count in yesterday's suicide bombing of a market in Amerli, in northern Iraq, is up to 150, making it the year's worst bomb attack in Iraq, the LA Times reports. Officials fear the area, 100 miles from Baghdad, has been targeted by al-Qaeda in Iraq militants pushed out of other strongholds.
The area is populated primarily by Kurds (mostly Sunnis) and Turks (mostly Shiites), and filled with ethnic tensions which make it a vulnerable target. The deadliest attacks to date occurred in Baghdad markets on April 18 and February 3 of this year. (More Iraqis killed stories.)