Nine killed in Iraq blasts

A STRING of bombings killed nine people and wounded at least 33 others in Iraq yesterday, including a senior oil ministry official, authorities said.

Six people died when two bombs — one of them hidden in a rubbish bin — exploded in Tahariyat square in central Baghdad during the morning rush hour.

Police said 21 people were wounded, including 10 policemen and two women.

The explosions caused extensive damage to shops lining the square in the predominantly Shi’ite eastern side of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Abdul-Sahib Salman Qutub, one of three senior undersecretaries in the oil ministry, suffered minor injuries when a bomb went off at his house as he left for work, ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said.

He said Qutub’s driver was seriously injured.

Another bomb exploded around noon near a police patrol in west Baghdad, injuring one policeman and a civilian, police said.

In Baqouba, some 55km northeast of the capital, a car bomb exploded in a parking lot across the street from the Diyala provincial council head-quarters, killing two policemen and a 10-year-old girl, authorities said.

Nine others — three of them policemen — were wounded in the blast which happened as a conference on defending journalism and freedom of expression took place inside the building.

None of the meeting’s participants was injured in the attack.