Another bloody day in Iraq

Two large explosions took place in Baghdad yesterday in which scores of Iraqis were killed on injured.

In the first explosion which was carried out by a booby trapped car near the ministry of oil and the police academy in Baghdad, news reports were contradictory over the number of persons killed, while an earlier statistics from the ministry of oil said that 17 Iraqis -- most of them are passersby -- and one American soldier were killed, a new statistics by Iraqi medical sources said that the number of killed is 11 Iraqis while other 8 Iraqis were killed when a mortar fell near the site of the first explosion.

In a statement issued on the Internet, a group belonging to the Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the two attacks.

News reports said that violent clashes took place between the American forces and unidentified gunmen in several quarters of "Heit" city to the west of Iraq.

The clashes in which missile shelling and machine guns were used, resulted in destroying two American vehicles in a military procession.

In recent developments concerning the hostages, an armed group calling itself Abu Baker al-Siddiq group said that it has released 10 Turkish hostages who were held for 40 days.

In a statement, the group said that the release of the hostages came after the announcement made by the Turkish company "Vencent" on halting its works and complete withdraw from Iraq.