In the past month in Baghdad, six markets have been bombed. One of the biggest death tolls this year took place in another market bombing in the northern city of Tal Afar, where 157 people were killed.
For insurgents, the open-air markets are attractive targets, because casualty figures are often large.
U.S. and Iraqi forces are taking pains to secure the Iraqi capital's shopping places by putting in blast walls and checkpoints. But for Iraqis, they are still precarious places.
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