The attack also sent shock waves through Mahmoudiya, an agricultural centre with Shiites living in the town centre and Sunnis in the outlying neighbourhoods. In Baghdad, Shiite lawmakers from two parties, including one led by radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed out of a parliament session to protest the Mahmoudiya killings. Rashid al-Samaraie.
Iraqi troops arrested two suspects in a nearby house and seized weapons, including a sack of grenades, the US military said. Dozens of heavily armed attackers raided an open air market today in a tense town south of Baghdad, killing at least 41 people and wounding about 90, Iraqi and US officials said Most of the victims were believed to be Shiites. The attack in Mahmoudiya began around 9 am with a brief mortar barrage, followed by an armed assault by dozens of gunmen.

They killed three Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint, then stormed the market firing automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades, according to police Capt. Engineers were unsure whether it had been leaking harmless nitrogen or flammable hydrazine, but tests showed no problems.. Mission Control also told Discovery that a leaking unit that powers hydraulic systems used for steering and braking should not pose any difficulties during landing. Damage to a wing of the shuttle Columbia caused the spacecraft to break up on re-entry to the earth’s atmosphere in 2003 killing all seven astronauts.
Nasa said it would consider using the back-up landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California if controllers were forced to postpone a landing at the Kennedy Space Centre because of bad weather The shuttle must land by Wednesday.

Discovery will try to land at3.50pm or 4.14pm BST, completing a successful 13-day mission that took supplies and an extra crew member to the international space station and allowed astronauts to repair a rail car on the station. Images of the shuttle’s wings and nose cap were taken by the crew over the weekend using sensors at the end of a 100ft boom and robotic arm. She said was “trying to take the Buddha approach and deal with today”.. Mission Control gave the go-ahead yesterday for the space shuttle Discovery to land today, after inspections of its protective skin showed no signs of damage. Inside were about 100 paintings as well as the just-finished draft of a book she had been writing on the 1960s British rock band, the Zombies.