(Adds background) BAGHDAD, Jan 17 (Reuters) - A bomb ripped through a crowded market in Sadr City, a poor Shi'ite district in northeast Baghdad, killing at least three people and wounding 10 more on Wednesday, an interior ministry source said. Sadr City is the Baghdad stronghold of the Mehdi Army, a militia loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. In November it was the scene of the deadliest single attack in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003, when six coordinated car bombs killed at least 202 people. The latest attack comes a day after twin bombs near Mustansiriya University, not far from Sadr City, killed 70 people, including many female students, on one of the bloodiest days in recent weeks in the capital. The execution of two of Saddam Hussein's aides on Monday renewed sectarian tension and charges from his fellow Sunni Arabs that the Shi'ite-led government was bent on revenge. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed the university bombs on followers of Saddam. Illicitly filmed video of Shi'ite officials taunting Saddam with Sadr's name when the former president was hanged at the end of December sparked fury among many Sunni Arabs and international condemnation. The Iraqi government is preparing to launch a major security crackdown in Baghdad.
