DOZENS KILLED AND HUNDREDS WOUNDED IN LAST 48 HOURS

IRAQ, At least 15 people were killed and some fifty wounded in three car-bomb blasts this morning in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. As reported by the Interior ministry, the three explosions took place a few seconds apart at around 7:00a.m. (local time) in the commercial district of Karrada. The first vehicle loaded with explosives rammed into a police patrol, killing 3 policemen and injuring another two. The second car-bomb exploded near a Shiite mosque involving an unspecified number of people, while police is still investigating the third blast, always in the area of Karrada. The three attacks came less than 24 hours from another car-bomb blast that yesterday, always in the capital, claimed 18 victims. Since yesterday, day of the international conference on Iraq in Brussels, at least 33 people were killed and around a hundred wounded in the Middle East nation.

Also this morning, in a car-bomb attack in Touz, 175km north of Baghdad, an Iraqi was killed and another ten injured; according to police, the attackers intended to strike a US forces convoy, which however escaped unharmed. An Iraqi government and UN statement was issued this morning on the four governors of Bassorah, Samawa, Zi Qar and Missan, in the south-east, who reported the death or injury of over 300 people in these zones since August 2002 by landmines or grenades disseminated in the territory. The report specifies that more than 300 locations on the 2,300 visited, are infested with landmines and explosives. The relateurs also underline that many of the Iraqis that fled the nation during the war with Iran (1980-1988), the first Gulf War of 1991 and UK-US invasion of March 2003, fear repatriating due in fact to the risks linked to the presence of landmines. [BO]

http://www.misna.org