Baghdad blasts kill 18 and hurts 36

A PAIR of car bombs exploded near the Iraqi interior minister’s offices in Baghdad yesterday, killing 18 people and wounding three dozen others.

Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for the blasts, the latest in several weeks of stepped up attacks that followed a relative lull in violence in mid-March.

In a statement posted on the Internet, al-Qaida in Iraq, headed by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said the bombings were targeting police who were guarding the offices of Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib, who is in charge of the nation’s police. The claim couldn’t be independently verified.

Al-Naqib was in his office at the time of the attack, but he left to examine the damage and announced that he was fine. The explosions didn’t damage the building where he works.

The blasts sent large plumes of smoke rising over the city and threw passers-by to the ground. Ali Ahmed, 28, said he was selling ice cream from his stall when he heard an explosion, followed by gunfire and another explosion.

“My stall was partially destroyed because of this terrorist act,” he said. “Some people have lost their lives. As for me, I have now lost my source of income.”

The blasts blew out the windows of nearby restaurants in the upscale neighbourhood of Baghdad, near the heavily fortified Green Zone. Students from a nearby secondary school wept and shouted that they weren’t going to attend classes anymore, waiting in the street for school buses or relatives to pick them up.

After clearing the area, US forces set off a third car bomb that apparently failed to explode earlier.