12 killed as blasts rock Baghdad

Five roadside bombs and two suicide car bombs exploded one after another in Baghdad today, killing a total of 12 Iraqis and wounding 37, police said.

The first two roadside bomb attacks occurred in separate areas of Palestine Street, a main thoroughfare in eastern Baghdad. The first one hit a police patrol wounding two policemen and four bystanders, said police Maj Maher Mohamed. The second one missed a police patrol but hit a civilian bus, killing five people, including a woman and two children, and wounding a police officer, said police Lt. Ali Mitaab.

A police patrol hit a roadside bomb in Baghdad’s northern district of Azamiyah killing three policeman and wounding 13 people, including 10 civilian pedestrians and three policemen five, said police 1st Lt Ahmed Mohamed Ali said.

About the same time, a roadside bomb missed a police patrol in central Baghdad, but wounded seven civilians, said police 1st Lt Taheyr Mahmoud.

An hour later a roadside bomb exploded in an open market for vegetables and house products in southeastern Baghdad, killing four civilians and wounding 16, said police Capt Ali Mehdi.

Moments later, two suicide car bombs exploded near a US convoy on Baghdad’s airport road, sending plumes of black smoke up into the air, said police Capt. Jamil Hussein. No casualties were immediately reported among the Americans as US forces immediately closed off the area.