14 killed and 52 wounded in Baghdad explosions

A STRING of explosions in Baghdad and north of the capital killed at least 14 Iraqis and wounded 52 yesterday.

A US soldier was reported killed in insurgency-plagued western Anbar province.

Many of the attacks targeted the country’s Shiite-led security forces, accused by Sunni Arabs of abuses against them under the cover of fighting the Sunni-driven insurgency.

The bloodiest attack happened in Baqouba, where a car bomb targeting a police patrol exploded near a market, killing six people and injuring 23, including four patrolmen, police said.

Bombs and mortar fire also rocked the capital, ending a relative lull over the weekend.

A suicide car bomber hit an Interior Ministry convoy in eastern Baghdad, killing two members of the security force and injuring three, police said

Another bomb exploded as a police patrol was driving through a northern Baghdad neighbourhood, killing one officer and a civilian bystander, officials said.

Two more policemen were killed when a car bomb exploded in a residential street.

Police found at least four more bodies that were shot in the head and dumped in parts of Baghdad.