Baghdad car bombings leave 43 dead

Three car bomb attacks near a bus station and hospital in Baghdad killed at least 43 people and wounded another 89 today, in the deadliest attacks in the capital in weeks. Survivors searched through charred buses and cars for signs of friends and relatives.

A suicide car bomber targeting policemen detonated his vehicle outside the Nahda bus station in central Baghdad, one of the city's major transit points, the US military said.

A second car exploded inside the station car park near buses that carry passengers to Amarah and Basra, Shiite-dominated cities in southern Iraq, police Capt. Nabil Abdul-Qadeer said.

It was deadliest series of single-day suicide bombings in Baghdad in weeks, although suicide attacks with far lower death tolls occur here regularly. Twenty-five people died in a suicide blast July 10 at an army recruiting centre in Baghdad.

On July 13 a car bomb in Baghdad killed 27 people, 18 of them teenagers or children and one American soldier.

Two US soldiers were killed in Iraq, the military said today. One was killed yesterday when a roadside bomb exploded near his patrol in southwest Baghdad and another was killed on Monday in an insurgent attack in northern Iraq.

The latest attacks in the capital occurred shortly before Iraqi leaders started a meeting to try to finish the new constitution. A Shiite negotiator, Khalid al-Attiyah, said talks were going so well that the document might be ready for parliament today.

The blasts left several mutilated bodies strewn across the station car park and a large plume of black smoke visible throughout the capital as many travelled to work. Over a dozen cars and at least two buses were destroyed, leaving only rows of seat frames inside a bare metal hull.

Several weeping men hugged beside a young boy inside the open-air terminal. One man searched through the charred buses for signs of his brother and cousin who were both at the station around the time of the attack.

A second suicide bomber exploded his vehicle near the Kindi Hospital about a half-hour later as many of the wounded were arriving for treatment, police said. Several people looked for relatives by raising white sheets that covered bodies lined in rows inside the hospital courtyard.

It was unclear if the hospital was targeted in the blast.

Shortly after the explosion, four suspects were detained at the bus station on suspicion of being involved in the attacks and are being questioned, the Transportation Ministry said.

Elsewhere, six new Iraqi soldier recruits were killed execution-style after gunmen stopped their minibus near Hawija, 30 miles southwest of Kirkuk, Iraqi Army Brig. Gen. Anwar Mohammed Amin said. The killed Iraqis were travelling to a training camp in Kirkuk.

Also today, one civilian was killed and another injured during clashes between police and insurgents in the northern city of Mosul, police Brig. Saeed Ahmed said. In eastern Mosul, gunmen killed a policeman in a bus station, police Capt. Ahmed Khalil said.

In the capital, gunmen in two cars killed a man in the Mansour neighbourhood and wounded two others, police 1st Lt. Majid Zaki said.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb was defused about close to the Imam Hussein shrine in the holy Shiite city of Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad, police spokesman Rahman Mishari said. The shrine is one of the most holiest sites in the country for Shiite Muslims.

The US military said today it is investigating a clash the prior day where an undetermined number of Iraqi civilians had been injured after insurgents opened fire on a US patrol and US helicopter fired back. One civilian was killed and 23 others wounded in the battle early yesterday in the Alawi neighbourhood in Baghdad, Iraqi Army Capt. Jassim al-Wahsh and local police officers said.

Iraqi's leaders resumed negotiations on the draft constitution today. Late on Monday, Iraq's parliament was forced to grant itself a week-long extension when leaders could not agree on the document.

One of the stumbling blocks was Kurdish demands for self-determination, which would give them the right to secede.

Yesterday, Kurdish leaders said they had no plans to break away from Iraq even through they wanted the right enshrined in the constitution.

"There are rumours that the Kurds want to secede, but they are for unity," President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, told reporters. He said he expected the constitution to be finished before the deadline.

Other Kurds defended their self-determination demand, although they insisted they have no plans to secede.

Iraqi leaders expressed confidence yesterday that they would overcome differences over remaining issues by the new deadline. If no agreement can be reached this time, the interim constitution requires that parliament be dissolved.

Different groups gave conflicting information on what had been resolved and what stood in the way of a deal.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, said the unresolved issues were federalism, the election law and the formula for distributing revenue from oil and other natural resources. Kurdish leaders said they objected to a proposal to grant special legal status to the Shiite clerical hierarchy in Najaf.

Sunni Arab negotiator Mohammed Abed-Rabbou said "the most important point is federalism," underscoring Sunni concerns that a constitution that grants regional autonomy could eventually divide the country.

Al-Jaafari said disagreements were largely over details and he expressed confidence that Iraq's constitution could be finished within a week.

"I hope that we will not need another extension. The pending points do not need too much time and God willing we will finish it on time," he said.

The delay was an embarrassment for the Bush administration, which insisted that the original deadline be met to maintain political momentum and blunt Iraq's deadly insurgency.

The US military announced yesterday that three American soldiers were killed on Monday night when their vehicle overturned during combat operations in south Baghdad. At least 15 Iraqis were killed yesterday in Baghdad and central Iraq in insurgency-related violence.

If agreement on a constitution is reached, Iraqis will vote around October 15 to accept or reject the charter, leading to more elections in December for the country's first fully constitutional government since the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.