BAGHDAD -- Senior American military officials produced photographs yesterday that they said showed the bodies of two women suicide bombers who a day earlier attacked two popular pet markets, causing Baghdad's deadliest blasts in months.
The photographs showed the lifeless faces of two dark-haired women with oblique eye fissures, a wide gap between the eyes and a flat nose bridge - characteristics consistent with Down syndrome.
"There are some indications that these two women were mentally handicapped," said Army Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad. "From what I see, it appears that the suicide bombers were not willing martyrs - they were used by al-Qaida [in Iraq] for these horrific attacks."
Hammond showed the photographs to a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and a handful of other news organizations, but he declined to release the classified photographs "out of respect for the deceased."
"These two women were likely used because they didn't know what was happening, and they were less likely to be searched," Hammond said.
Iraqis in Baghdad demanded more protection for markets, saying one of the bombers wasn't searched because she was known as a local beggar and the male guards were reluctant to search women because of Islamic sensitivities.
Ali Nassir, a 30-year-old day laborer whose hobby is raising birds, said people with disabilities often beg for food and money at the weekly al-Ghazl pet bazaar on Fridays.
"I saw the suicide bomber, and she was begging," Nassir said, adding the woman was known to the vendors. "The security guards did not search her, because she is a woman and because it is not unusual to have beggars, mainly women and children, moving around in the market."
Iraqi police said a total of 99 people were killed and 208 were wounded in the Friday blasts. Hammond said 27 were killed and 53 wounded. The officials were unable to say why they disagreed on the number of people killed or hurt.
According to Hammond, one woman carried a suicide vest while the other carried a backpack loaded with explosives, nails and metal pellets.
The apparently coordinated attacks Friday occurred 10 minutes apart, shortly before 11 a.m. Eyewitness accounts varied. Some witnesses said both women appeared to be mentally disabled, and others said at least one attack was carried out by a blond woman with no visible disability.
Garrett Therolf and Ned Parker write for the Los Angeles Times. The Associated Press contributed to this article.