IRAQ: At least 13 killed and 44 wounded after multiple bomb blasts.

At least 13 people were killed and some 44 wounded in separate attacks in Iraq on Sunday (August 27). North of Baghdad, an improvised explosive devise (IED) exploded inside a shop, killing five and wounding 15 others, police said. The blast took place in the town of Khalis, 70 km northeast of Baghdad. Dayala province, which includes Khalis town, has been a hotbed of insurgency against the US and Iraqi troops since the US-led invasion in 2003. Meanwhile, a suicide lorry exploded outside the offices of a leading Kurdish party in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, killing one peshmerga (Kurdish fighters) and wounding 15 others, police sources said. A huge explosion rocked an area near the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), damaging the building and wrecking a number of civilian cars. Iraq's President Jalal Talabani is the leader of the PUK party. Earlier this moth, a suicide car bomber killed three people and wounded at least seven in an attack outside the offices of a leading Kurdish party in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. In the southern city of Diwaniya, witnesses reported that heavy clashes took place between a militia loyal to the Shi'ite cleric of Moqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi army and police on Saturday (August 26). The said that three people were killed and six others wounded in the clashes that wrecked number of civilian cars. Among the dead, two were civilians. Witnesses added that the clashes took place hours after a mortar attack on a Polish base in the city. The Polish forces in the southern city of Diwaniya did not give an immediate report on the attack. A further four people were killed and eight others wounded when a car bomb exploded near civilians in the town of Haswa, 30 miles south of Baghdad. Meanwhile, a bomb planted inside a minibus killed nine civilians and wounded 20 others in central Baghdad on Sunday (August 27), police and Interior Ministry sources said. Iraqi soldiers and bystanders covered a number of bodies that lay on Saadoun street, one of the capital's busiest commercial districts. Thick black smoke rose from the mangled minibus, engulfed in flames. The minibus carried passengers on a route from the Bab al-Sharji area to the predominantly Shi'ite Karrada district. It exploded outside a hotel complex but police said the bomb targeted the passengers. Buses travelling inside Baghdad and to Iraq's southern Shi'ite cities have been targeted in the past by suspected Sunni militants as part of growing sectarian violence that has raised fears of a civil war in Iraq. A car bomb also exploded outside the offices of the state-run newspaper, al-Sabah, in Baghdad on Sunday (August 27), killing two people and wounding 20 and causing extensive damage to the building, police said. The blast demolished the facade of the newspaper's production department, witnesses said. Two cars were blown through one wall by the force of the huge explosion, which left more than 20 cars destroyed or on fire. It was the second car bomb attack on the newspaper this year. At least one person was killed in an explosion on May 7. A Sabah journalist said the main newsroom had also been damaged in Sunday's attack and it was not clear whether the newspaper, based in Baghdad's northern Waziriya district, would be able to publish on Monday. "We are going home now and will wait for a signal from our editor-in-chief," the journalist said. Police said the car bomb had been parked outside the building, but people at the scene spoke of a suicide bomber who had detonated his explosives after driving into the car park. U.S. soldiers were on the scene as firemen picked their way through twisted metal and rubble. Insurgents fighting to topple the U.S.-backed Shi'ite-led government of national unity often target journalists working for state media. Al-Sabah is part of the U.S.-funded Iraqi Media Network, which also runs Iraqiya state television. U.S. and Iraqi forces have stepped up security in Baghdad in recent weeks. The government hopes its "national reconciliation" programme will also help ease violence.

ITN Source | August 27, 2006

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