Up to 22 killed in multiple Baghdad attacks

Multiple car bombings have rocked Baghdad today, including a suicide attack on the Red Cross headquarters that killed at least 10 people.

The bomber drove an ambulance packed with explosives into security barriers outside the Red Cross building in the Iraqi capital and then detonated his deadly cargo.

US Brigadier General Mark Hertling said three other vehicles exploded in the Baghdad area, at least two of them against police stations, on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Iraqi police reported about a dozen Iraqis were killed in the three other blasts.

Dr Allawi Attiyah of the Ibn al-Nafeez hospital put the total at 10 dead and 12 injured.

The US had feared that the start of Ramadan would signal an increase in attacks.

Hertling said he believed the attacks may have been timed with the start of Ramadan in order to increase the sense of unease among the five million people in the turbulent city.

Muslims abstain from food, drink, cigarettes and sex during daylight hours during the holy month.

Witnesses said the explosion at the Red Cross occurred when the driver rammed the ambulance into security barriers – oil drums filled with sand – and blew up the vehicle about 8.30am.

The blast caused extensive damage inside the building of the International Committee of the Red Cross, employees said.

Ghani Kadim, 50, a cigarette vendor, said he watched an ambulance move down the street toward the Red Cross building. “As it entered the front gate of the compound, it exploded,” he said.

Red Cross spokeswoman Nada Doumani said there were casualties among Iraqi staff of the Red Cross but she gave no figures and did not say if they were dead or injured.

She said the building normally has about 100 people, mostly Iraqis, working there but it was unclear how many were in their offices.

“Of course we don’t understand why somebody would attack the Red Cross,” she said. “It’s very hard to understand.” She said the international Red Cross has been working in Iraq since 1980 and “has not been involved in any politics.” Asked if the organisation would remain in Iraq, she replied: “I don’t even know what we’re going to do.”

General Hertling said it was “a great day for the Iraqi police” because security controls prevented the bombers from reaching their targets.

However, Mouwafak al-Rabii, a Shiite Muslim member of the US appointed Iraqi Governing Council, said Washington must speed up the training of Iraqi police and soldiers and employ ruthless measures to crush the insurgency.

“There is no doubt about it that we need to change the rules of engagement with these people,” al-Rabii said. ”The rules of engagement now are too lenient.”

The blast blew down a 40 foot section of the front wall in front of the three storey Red Cross building, demolished a dozen cars in the area and apparently broke a water main, flooding the streets.

“The ambulance stopped in front of the line of barrels we have had in front to protect the building and then it exploded,” one Red Cross employee, who would not give his name, said.

He said the inside of the building was heavily damaged and littered with shattered glass, broken doors, hinges and toppled book cases. The blast left a crater five yards across, which filled with water as firefighters put out the blaze in the vehicle.

Another witness, Maiytham Mohammed, said the blast knocked him off his feet and “there was huge smoke from the area.”

The bombing came a day after insurgents attacked a Baghdad hotel, killing an American colonel.

Three other American soldiers were killed overnight – two in Baghdad and one in Abu Ghraib on the western edge of the city, US officials said. Four others were wounded in the two attacks.

The deaths bring to 112 the number of American troops killed by hostile fire since President George Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1.

The blasts occurred a day after a rocket attack on Baghdad’s Al Rasheed Hotel, where US military and coalition officials lived.

An American colonel was killed and 18 people were injured in the attack. Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was in the building but escaped injury.

Wolfowitz said the strike against the Al Rasheed, from nearly point-blank range, “will not deter us from completing our mission” in Iraq.

But the bold blow at the heart of the US presence clearly rattled US confidence that it is defeating Iraq’s shadowy insurgents.

“We’ll have to get the security situation under control,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said.