Many feared dead in Iraq blasts

A car bomb exploded today in central Baghdad outside the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan near the green zone headquarters of the US-run coalition.

At least three people were reported killed and 20 were injured. The Arab language television stations Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, however, said about 10 people were killed.

Ambulances raced to the scene and US troops kept people back. Television footage showed debris and a charred wall of a building.

The blast ripped through the building in the early afternoon, shortly after a party attended by hundreds of people. The event was intended to celebrate the founding of the PUK, which is seen as being close to the Americans.

Under the leadership of Jalal Talabani, the party represented one of the main anti-Saddam forces on Iraqi soil after the Gulf War. Fighters from the party backed American forces in last year’s invasion.

Talabani, who holds a seat on the Governing Council, was not in the offices when the blast occurred, a party spokesman said.

Most of the injured were outside the party offices and were struck by flying glass, said Lieut Colonel Robert Campbell of the 38th Calvary Unit in the 1st Calvary Division.

The bomb was one of several blasts heard in the capital just after reports circulated that Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, current head of the Iraqi Governing Council, had been selected as president of the interim government set to take power on June 30.

Another blast, followed by gunfire, sent a mushroom cloud 100 feet billowing into the dusty air hanging over the city.

Coalition aircraft could be heard flying over Baghdad.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb exploded near the US military base in northern Iraq, killing 11 Iraqis and wounding more than 20 others. Two US 1st Infantry Division Soldiers were wounded and evacuated to a combat hospital.

The blast was outside the gates of the 1st Infantry Division’s forward operating base, Summerall, in the town of Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, army spokesman Captain Bill Coppernoll said.