Four suicide bombers kill 19 in Iraq

Four suicide car bombers targeted Iraqi and US security patrols today, killing 19 people in the latest surge of suicide attacks, police said.

The first suicide attack killed two policemen and one civilian in the eastern New Baghdad neighbourhood, police 1st Lt. Mohammed Jasim said. The attack occurred when police inspected the bodies of two Iraqis killed by insurgents that had been left in the road as a trap, the US military said in a statement.

The attack also wounded seven policemen, some seriously, and one other civilian.

About an hour later a second suicide car bomber exploded near a police convoy near the Bay'a bus station in southern Baghdad, killing three police commandos and four civilians, police Capt. Talib Thamir said. Three civilians were also injured in that blast.

A third suicide car bomber missed a US convoy but struck two minibuses, killing six civilians in the troubled Mahmoudiya town about 20 miles miles south of Baghdad, police Capt. Rashid al-Samarie. Nine others were also wounded.

In eastern Baghdad, another car bomber sped toward a police patrol, exploding early but killing one policeman and two civilians, police Capt. Abdul Hussein Minsif said. At least four others were wounded and several cars and homes were damaged in the blast.

After a lull in attacks after a security sweep last month through the capital, attacks have increased in recent days, including a suicide bombing yesterday that killed at least 71 people in Musayyib, about 40 miles south of Baghdad.

On Friday, at least seven suicide attacks exploded in the country, killing at least 30 and wounding over 110 people.