TWO near-simultaneous bombings targeted a crowded downtown Baghdad coffee shop and nearby restaurant, killing at least 23 people and wounding 26, according to police and hospital officials.

A suicide attacker detonated an explosive vest inside a crowded Baghdad coffee shop today and seconds later another bomb exploded under a nearby car, killing at least 23 people and wounding 26, police and hospital officials said.

Simultaneous suicide and roadside bomb blasts in the same central Baghdad street killed at least 16 Iraqis and wounded 25 today.