Mortar rounds and car bomb kill 24 in Baghdad

A pair of mortar rounds followed minutes later by a car bomb blasted Baghdad’s Karradah district today, killing a total of 24 people and wounding 46, police said.

The explosions occurred mid-morning in a religiously mixed neighbourhood controlled by a major Shiite party after President George Bush approved plans to send more US and Iraqi troops into Baghdad to curb rising sectarian violence.