Iraq: Car bombs killed 30 people in Iraq yesterday and wounded more than 70 in one of the most violent episodes of recent weeks.
The attacks came as political leaders sought a deal to form a national unity government.
The southern city of Basra was quiet as British forces examined the wreck of a helicopter, apparently shot down on Saturday with the loss of up to five British military personnel. Five Iraqis died after the crash as soldiers clashed with youths chanting Shia militia slogans.
At least 21 people were killed and 52 wounded when a suicide bomber blew up a car on a crowded street in the Shia holy city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad, police and doctors said.
Iraqi and US leaders have called such attacks Sunni al-Qaeda ploys to spark a sectarian war with Shia Muslims.
About the same time, two cars exploded in the capital. A suicide car bomber hit an Iraqi army patrol in the Sunni district of Aadhamiya, killing eight people and wounding 15. Soldiers and civilians were among the casualties.
Iraqi and US forces conducted a sweep for Sunni guerrillas in the area on Saturday, the US military said.
Also in north Baghdad, a second car bomb exploded at a busy intersection near the offices of a government-funded newspaper, killing one civilian and wounding five, police sources said. In Kerbala, the police chief told a news conference only two people had died in the bombing. However, police and medical officials, who declined to be identified, stood by their casualty figures.
The blast ripped into crowds close to a partially built Shia mosque and 500m from the main bus station. A dozen other vehicles were burned out as a result of the explosion.
Interior Ministry sources said 42 bodies had been found in the past 24 hours in the capital alone. The figure is in line with levels of violence seen since sectarian bloodshed rose sharply after the bombing of a Shia shrine on February 22nd.
Interior Minister Bayan Jabor, said yesterday a general from the ministry had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in kidnappings and death squads.
He told al-Jazeera television a "terror squad" had been uncovered. It was not clear if those caught were from the army or the police force.
- (Reuters)