Baghdad - Rockets and mortars rained down on an upscale, mostly Shi'a area of Baghdad, collapsing an apartment house, shattering shops and killing at least 31 people - part of the rising sectarian violence that United States President George Bush has vowed to stop.
A car bomb also exploded during the attack on Thursday in the commercial-residential district of Karradah, an area that is home to several prominent Shi'a politicians.
More than 150 people were wounded in the blasts, police said.
Horrified survivors milled about the street hours later, surveying the damage and blaming Sunnis from neighborhoods across the Tigris River.
"We are not infidels. It seems that we are not even safe in our homes," said one man, who, like others on the street, refused to give his name because he was afraid.
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A statement posted late on Thursday on an Islamist Web site claimed responsibility in the name of the al-Sahaba Soldiers, a part of the Sunni extremist Mujahedeen Shura Council which also includes al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The statement, whose authenticity could not be determined, said the attack was "in response to Shi'a crimes" and warned "we are prepared for many such operations" to punish Shi'a for supporting the "crusaders," or Americans, and the "treacherous" Iraqi government.
At least two rockets slammed into Karradah, including one that collapsed an apartment house, said Lieutenant Colonel Abbas Mohammed Salman, police commander in Karradah. Salman gave the tally of dead and wounded.
Two mortar shells exploded - one near an investment bank and another across the street near a row of shops. A car bomb went off minutes later near a gas station, shattering storefronts and spraying flaming gasoline on to homes and shops, the Interior Ministry reported.
The blasts transformed a normally bustling, generally safe area of Baghdad into a scene from a war zone.
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