IRAQ: Car bomb kills 10, wounds 15 in Suwayra. Further bombs in Basra and Baghdad

At least 10 people were killed and 15 wounded on Monday (October 16) when a car bomb went off in a market in the town of Suwayra south of Baghdad, police sources said. But the mayor of Suwayra, Hussein Abdullah, told Reuters that eight were killed and 48 wounded when the car exploded near a bank in the town's market. Suwayra, is a mixed Sunni and Shi'ite town, is 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad. At least three bombs exploded close to civilians in central Baghdad on Monday (October 16), killing three people and wounding seven others. One of the wounded was a policeman, police said. They said that an explosion occurred near a bank in al-Sinak district of central Baghdad. Police added that the first bomb exploded early in the morning while the two other exploded in quick succession an hour later. "The Americans were parking here, they left and minutes later a blast happened. Their (Americans) armoured vehicles, the new vehicles left and the blast happened," said Raad, an eye witness. The British consulate in Iraq said that a security guard was wounded when gunmen attacked a four wheel drive vehicle convoy usually used by foreigners in the southern city of Basra on Monday (October 16). The consulate added that the attack was caused when gunmen attacked the convoy with Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) when on their way to visit a British centre for reconstruction information in the city of Basra. The consulate did not give any further information about the identity of the security guard who was wounded in the attack. "They were three vehicles, the last one was attacked by RPG while the two other vehicles managed to move away of site of attack. They were attacked by the heroes. ...There are casualties and they were evacuated by them, the British forces," said an unidentified eye witness. Basra, Iraq's second largest city, has been relatively calm over the past year and a half, although there are occasional outbreaks of violence. British forces are responsible for security in the city and other towns in southern Iraq. A car bomb exploded next to a police patrol in eastern Baghdad on Monday (October 16). "We were sitting inside the shop, when we saw a parked Corona (vehicle exploded). We saw policemen running to the site of blast. Three policemen (were wounded) and a poor child (was also wounded). It was parked here and exploded next to civilians. God willing there are no serious casualties," an eyewitness said.

ITN Source | October 16, 2006

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