Scores killed by two booby trapped cars in Hella, Baghdad

News reports quoted one Iraqi security source as confirming that 14 persons were killed and others injured in a booby trapped car explosion in the market of al-Hella city, south of Baghdad.

The number of the persons killed in the explosion which targeted one American vehicle on Thursday morning in front of al-Mahmoudeyah hospital to the south of Baghdad increased to 31 killed and other 23 injured. The American army said that three of its soldiers were injured as a result of the explosions.

Iraqi security sources announced the death of nine Iraqis including three personal guards of the minister of industry Osama al-Najafi at the hands of unidentified gunmen. Others were injured in different attacks.

A source at the ministry of defense said that one officer was killed by the bullets of gunmen in al-Resalah quarters, south of Baghdad. Unidentified gunmen also killed a commissioner working for the terrorism fighting police unit in front of his house in al-Doura area.

In Tikrit, a police source said that one Iraqi engineer working in the municipality circle was killed at the hands of gunmen who were riding a car. In a separate incident, unidentified gunmen killed one employee from the criminality fighting forces of the ministry of interior in al-Doul' area, west of Baghdad. In the north of Baghdad and in al-Kazemeyah area, a police man was killed at the hands of unidentified gunmen.

A source at the ministry of interior said that the deputy chief of the faculty of education at al-Mustansereyah university, Dr. Kazem Hussein, was killed after he was attacked by unidentified gunmen. The police also found the bodies of four Iraqis. They were two women and two men with signs of torture on their bodies in al-Yousefeyah area, south of Baghdad.