Car bomb explodes near Iraqi ministry building

At least eight people were killed when a car bomb exploded near the Ministry of Education in a busy commercial area of northern Baghdad today.

Meanwhile, kidnappers released two Iraqi guards abducted along with an American, a Nepalese, a Filipino and an Iraqi from the Baghdad compound of a Saudi company yesterday.

Interior Ministry spokesman Colonel Adnan Abdul-Rahman said the car bomb detonated at 8.45am local time (5.45am Irish time) in the northern Azamiyah district.

Al-Numan Hospital officials said six people were killed, including one woman. Ten others were wounded, including a two-year old girl.

Officials at a second hospital, Baghdad Medical City Hospital, reported two more deaths and 19 injured.

The burning car had ploughed into the concrete blast walls and protective barriers around the Ministry of Education offices.

Most of the employees managed to escape unscathed but the building’s guards, who were in the rear of the building, were among the casualties, a ministry employee said.

In the kidnapping case, the two freed guards, who had been beaten, were left blindfolded and handcuffed in Baghdad’s Hay al-Amil area late yesterday, said a police officer.

“Don’t work with them again or else we’ll kill you,” the kidnappers told the two men, according to the officer. He said he believed the two were freed because they were from the Fallujah area.

Yesterday, assailants stormed the compound of a Saudi company in the upscale Mansour district of western Baghdad and seized the six during a gun battle. One guard and one assailant were killed during the shoot-out, police said.

The US Embassy confirmed that an American was abducted but has not identified him.

The six were originally identified as an American, a Nepalese and four Iraqi guards. The US Embassy today identified the four remaining captives as an American, a Nepalese, a Filipino and an Iraqi.

The kidnapped Filipino is believed to be an accountant.

The offices where the hostages were abducted is about 500 yards from the home of British engineer Ken Bigley and two Americans kidnapped by militants in September. All three were later beheaded.

The abductees are believed to work for the Saudi Arabian Trading and Construction Company, or Satco. The company caters food and provides food supplies to the Iraqi army and others, a company official said from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Neighbours in the area described seeing several cars filled with gunmen, some blocking the road to the house.

“We heard gunfire. I went outside to see what’s going on when a man pointed a machine gun at me and said, ‘Get in or else, I’ll shoot at you’,” said Haidar Karar, who lives in the neighbourhood.

Today, the US military command denied media reports that an American soldier had been abducted in the city of Samarra.

Twelve Americans have been kidnapped or are missing in Iraq. At least three of them have been killed – all beheaded in abductions claimed by an al Qaida-linked group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

More than 160 foreigners have been abducted this year by militants with political demands or by criminals seeking ransom. At least 33 captives have been killed.

The abduction came two days after authorities found the decapitated body of another hostage, 24-year-old Japanese backpacker Shosei Koda. Al-Zarqawi’s al Qaida in Iraq group said it had kidnapped Koda and demanded a withdrawal of Japanese troops from the country.

Today, al-Zarqawi’s group claimed responsibility for Koda’s beheading, posting a video on an Islamist website of the gruesome death.

The al-Qaida affiliated group said the Japanese government had offered “millions of dollars” in ransom for Koda’s safe return.

“The world should know, from east to west, north to south that al Qaida is firm on its jihad, God willing, in spite of the Japanese government offering a ransom of millions of dollars,” the statement said.

The latest bombing occurred as US troops are gearing up for a major offensive against Fallujah, the strongest bastion of Sunni insurgents and located about 40 miles west of the capital.

A car bomb targeting an Iraqi military convoy exploded today in northern Mosul, killing four civilians and injuring at least seven soldiers, according to US and Iraqi officials.

Iraqi police said the attack was an assassination attempt on General Rashid Feleih, commander of a special task force in the Iraqi army. He was unhurt though seven soldiers were wounded.

Today, the US military reported overnight airstrikes in Fallujah that destroyed a known enemy cache site on the south east side of the city.

Hospital officials in Fallujah said one person was killed and six others were wounded during clashes. It was unclear whether they were casualties of air or ground attacks.