By Peter Graff and Alastair Macdonald
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A bomb killed 34 people in Baghdad's Sadr City Shi'ite slum on Saturday as Iraq's minority Sunnis began the fasting month of Ramadan, which U.S. commanders said might see a rise in sectarian bloodshed.
The bomb -- most likely a car bomb, according to police -- struck near a tanker distributing kerosene for stoves in Sadr City, whose poor residents are the power base of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia.
In addition to the 34 people killed, 35 were injured, many badly burned.
Sunni militants claimed responsibility, declaring the attack revenge for killings by Shi'ite militia.
"This operation comes in reaction to the crimes of the Mehdi Army against our Sunni kin in Baghdad," the Jamaat Jund al-Sahaba -- Soldiers of the Prophet's Companions -- said in a claim posted on the Internet. "Our swords can reach the depth of your areas, so stop killing unarmed Sunnis."
U.S. commanders had warned for weeks that they expected a surge of violence to accompany the holy month, having observed similar patterns in previous years.
Shi'ites and Sunnis have separate systems for declaring Ramadan's start; Sunnis began observing it on Saturday and Shi'ites are expected to begin on Sunday or Monday.
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