16 die as blasts rock Baghdad

A rapid-fire series of explosions in and around Baghdad killed 16 people today, including 10 people who died when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of police officers, officials said.

In total, at least 10 bombs exploded as Iraqis were headed to work in a reminder of the dangers Iraq still faces despite a drop in violence since the height of the war.

At least nine of the dead were police officers.

It was the third major attack this month in which security personnel were targeted and took the most losses. Just last week, 27 people were killed outside a police station in the northern city of Kirkuk, and earlier this month 20 police officers in the southern city of Hillah died when a suicide bomber ploughed his vehicle into a police compound.

The worst single attack today came near the city of Taji, which is 12 miles north of Baghdad.

Police officers had gathered after a roadside bomb targeting a passing American military convoy blew up. When the police arrived on the scene, a suicide bomber walked into the crowd and blew himself up, police and hospital officials said.

Seven police and three civilians died and 19 people, including 15 policemen, were injured, the officials said.

Earlier in the capital, the beginning of the work week was shattered by a quick series of blasts in mostly Shiite neighbourhoods.

First a car bomb in a parking lot in eastern Baghdad’s Sadr City neighbourhood exploded, injuring five people and damaging several nearby cars.

Minutes later, also in Sadr City, a bomb hidden in a pile of rubbish exploded, killing one person and wounding five more.

Then five minutes later another roadside bomb, this time targeting a police patrol, exploded injuring three policemen and four bystanders.

In the southwestern neighbourhood of Bayaa, the morning calm was shattered by five explosions that went off in rapid succession.

First a roadside bomb targeted a police patrol. Then a minute later another roadside bomb went off in a commercial street followed by two roadside bombs hidden in a pile of rubbish on a highway.

Finally, a parked car bomb went off on a road that marks the intersection between Bayaa and the adjoining neighbourhood.