Mosul car bombs kill 10, 100 injured

Two car bombs exploded in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul today, killing 10 and injuring 100, the US military said.

The first explosion took place at about 6.15am Irish time. Witnesses said it was near a school and opposite the mayor’s office in Mosul, 225 miles north of Baghdad.

Body parts were hurled across the street.

A second blast followed 45 minutes later outside a coalition operating base.

Further south, a suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle during rush hour outside a US base in Baqouba, killing at least four Iraqis and one American soldier, the US military and police said.

Sixteen Iraqis and 10 American soldiers were wounded.

Ambulances, Humvees and Iraqi police rushed to evacuate the injured from the base, 30 miles north of Baghdad.

US soldiers cleared the area at the former Iraqi air force base, now used by the US army’s 1st Infantry Division.

“At rush hour, a suicide bomber blew up his Mitsubishi,” said Iraqi police Lieutenant Ali Hussein.

“The blast led to huge damage.”

The soldiers were working at a checkpoint just outside the base when the car blew up, killing one US soldier and wounding 10 others, said Major Neal E O’Brien.

The wounded were taken to a US combat hospitals.

The explosion occurred 30 feet from the main gate, Hussein said.

The blast took place as hundreds of Iraqis who work at the base stood in line awaiting security checks, said one of the injured, Ahmed Abdul-Latif.

The bombings was the latest in a series of attacks on US forces and their allies in the days leading to the hand over of sovereignty in Iraq on June 30.