Wave of violence kills more than 60 in Iraq

Car bombs rocked Iraq’s two holiest Shiite cities today, killing at least 60 people and wounding more than 120, while in Baghdad dozens of gunmen carried out a brazen ambush on car, killing three employees of the organisation running next month’s elections.

The bombings came just over an hour apart – first a suicide blast that ripped through minibuses at the entrance of the main bus station in the city of Karbala, then a car bomb in a central square of Najaf crowded with people watching a funeral procession attended by the city police chief and provincial governor.