At least 38 killed in Baghdad car bombings

Three parked car bombs exploded in central Baghdad today near a predominantly Shiite area packed with vendors, killing at least 38 people and wounding 84, officials said.

The bombs were about 100 yards apart and exploded nearly simultaneously, said police Lt. Ali Muhsin and hospital officials.

Muhsin said most of the victims were in the busy al-Sadriyah shopping district in central Baghdad. At least 10 other parked vehicles were destroyed in an area where street vendors sell fruit, vegetables and other items such as soap.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, gunmen attacked the main gate of Yarmouk Hospital, killing one policeman and wounding three, and the bodies of 12 people who had been handcuffed and shot to death were found by police, they said.

Violence also occurred north and south of the Iraqi capital today.

US and Iraqi forces began an offensive operation in Baqouba, the capital of the province of Diyala north-east of Baghdad, where fierce fighting had taken place with Sunni Arab insurgents, the US command said.

At least 36 suspected militants were detained during one raid at a major junction in Baqouba, the provincial capital about 35 miles north-east of Baghdad, police said. Later in the day, state-run Iraqiya television said one al Qaida in Iraq insurgent was killed and 43 detained, including two foreigners. But attacks by suspected insurgents continued outside Baqouba.

Elsewhere, a truck driving at high speed slammed into a bus stop in a town south of Baghdad, killing about 20 people and wounding 15, police said.

The truck hit a group of Iraqis in al-Wahada, 22 miles south of Baghdad, as they were waiting for buses to the capital, said police Lt. Muhammed Al-Shemari. He said it didn’t appear to be an accident because the truck, an empty fuel tanker, didn’t have a flat tire or any other obvious mechanical problems that would have caused the crash.

The driver fled the overturned truck but was caught by witnesses and turned over to police, Al-Shemari said. Other witnesses found the body of a person in the cabin of the vehicle, he said.

Another police officer said the driver blamed break failure, but that an investigation by a local judge who would question why the vehicle was driving so fast.

Farther to the south, US forces killed an insurgent who was caught planting a roadside bomb on a major road about 40 miles south of Baghdad, said police Capt. Muthanna Khalid said.

A US Army soldier also was killed in fighting in the volatile Anbar province on Friday, the military said, raising to at least 2,887 the number of service members who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003.