Car bombs claim the lives of 23, wound 56

A SERIES of car bombs exploded after dusk yesterday in Baghdad, killing at least 23 people and wounding about 56, police said. Separate attacks earlier in the day killed seven others.

Meanwhile, three US soldiers were killed Tuesday by small-arms fire during combat operations west of Baghdad near the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, the military said. At least 1,727 members of the US military have died since the war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Gunmen also killed a former judge whose name once was on a list of Sunni Arabs joining a parliamentary committee to draft Iraq's new constitution.