Osama bin Laden has warned Iraq's majority Shia Muslims they were not safe from al-Qaeda's new leader in the country after a car bomb devastated a Baghdad market today, killing more than 60 people.
'It is not possible that many southerners violate, alongside America and its allies, Ramadi, Falluja, Mosul...and that their areas remain safe from retaliation,' a voice like that of the Saudi-born Sunni Islamist said in an Internet recording.
Ramadi, Falluja and Mosul are bastions of Sunni rebellion, while Iraqi southerners are overwhelmingly Shia Muslims.
At least 62 people were killed and 114 others were injured in the car bomb attack in Sadr City, a Shia area frequently targeted by insurgents.
The explosion left a scene of carnage and devastation, with the dead and injured lying amid the wreckage of cars, shops and market stalls.
Eyewitnesses say the car bomb exploded as a police patrol was passing a parked car in the market area of the city.
In a separate incident, a prominent Sunni politician and seven of her bodyguards were kidnapped.
Meanwhile, around 500 prisoners were released from the US run Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad this morning.
The releases form part of a national reconciliation plan which the Iraqi government is pressing ahead with.
Separately, the United States military has said that five American soldiers are under investigation over the alleged killing of an Iraqi family.
The Americans say the affair came to light when two soldiers came forward with the information.
According to reports, the allegation is that a group of five American soldiers raped a young woman then killed her and three members of her family, burning her body to hide the evidence.
The probe is the latest in a series of inquiries into alleged abuse of Iraqis by US troops.
