U.S., Iraqis vow to avenge market bombings

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Haider Jabar, a 28-year-old government employee who lives near the market and often goes for a stroll among the cages, said the woman used in that attack was a stranger to the locals.

"The woman seemed to be handicapped. It was uncommon to have a woman walking inside New Baghdad bird market, this fact had attracted many teenagers who had gathered around her at the time of the explosion," he said.

Others called on authorities to step up measures to protect the market, which unlike many others in the capital is not surrounding by concrete barriers.

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"Every place in Baghdad is exposed to terrorist attacks," said survivor Badir Sami, 42. "I demand tighter security measures at popular markets like this, where many people gather especially on Fridays."

Another pigeon dealer, Ali Mansour, said he was packing up his shop after surviving three attacks in the al-Ghazl market.

Al-Maliki, meanwhile, turned his attention to the northwestern city of Mosul, promising what he said would be the final showdown with al-Qaida in Iraq led insurgents said to have taken refuge there to escape U.S.-led offensives in Baghdad and surrounding areas.

U.S. commanders in northern Iraq have said the battle to oust al-Qaida in Iraq from its last urban stronghold will not be a swift strike as al-Maliki suggested, but rather a grinding campaign that will require more firepower.

Iraqi police and military units have been dispatched to the area, and al-Maliki said he was eager to "end the matter as soon as possible," although he gave no start date. The prime minister also named the commander of the security operations in and around Mosul as newly promoted Lt. Gen. Riyadh Jalal, a senior officer in the region.

"We have come here to start the march of liberating Mosul from terrorists and outlaws," al-Maliki said during a meeting with Iraqi military commanders in the city, which is the capital of Ninevah province. "The stabilization of this province will send the last message that al-Qaida and the remnants of the former regime are defeated."