The toll from yesterday's two Baghdad suicide bombs had risen to 98 dead and 208 wounded.
A US general in Iraq has criticised al-Qaeda over what he called its 'twisted ideology' after the two suicide bombings by mentally impaired women in separate pet market attacks.
Major General Jeffery Hammond, commander of US forces in Baghdad, told a news conference that al-Qaeda in Iraq was using 'Its twisted ideology to spread fear in the hearts of people.'
The blasts were the deadliest in Baghdad since last August, when three car bombs killed more than 80 people.
Police said the first bomb struck the popular al-Ghazl pet market in central Baghdad as hundreds of people were out enjoying the Muslim day of rest.
The second explosion a short time later rocked a pet market in the Baghdad al-Jadida neighbourhood.
Mr Hammond the bombers 'were used by al-Qaeda because they were less likely to know what was happening...they were less likely to be searched.'
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's issued a statement today saying recent security successes had 'annoyed those with sick and corrupt minds so they committed... two ugly terrorist crimes which left many innocents dead.'
He said such attacks would only increase the Iraqi military's persistence in restoring security to the violence-ravaged country.
