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Suicide bomb spree kills 20 in Baghdad BAGHDAD: Suicide car bombers blew themselves up in a series of attacks within hours across the Iraqi capital on Friday, and US forces said 20 Iraqis were killed. The US military reported seven blasts in Baghdad, at least three of which were suicide car bombs. Reuters journalists saw the aftermath of five big explosions, all of which Iraqi police sources said were suicide car bombs. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for five suicide attacks. At least two attacks struck US military targets. Three American soldiers were hurt, but none killed, US military spokesman Lieutenant Jamie Davis said. A US statement said five of the dead were Iraqi soldiers and 15 were Iraqi civilians. "Dead and mangled bodies of women and children is what terrorism stands for," said Colonel Joseph DiSalvo, commander of US forces in Baghdad's eastern half, in a statement referring to three suicide car bomb blasts. The statement did not give the locations of the attacks or a breakdown of how many were killed in which incident. Davis said he had records of seven blasts in all, of which three were noted down as suicide car bombs. Firefighters tried to douse the flames near one blast site which targeted Iraqi troops in the north of the city, where several cars were destroyed and blood-soaked survivors argued with police. "The (Iraqi) army vehicles were parking right here when a speeding Daewoo car approached and exploded. It split in two parts," eyewitness Raed Salman said. A police source said six people were killed and 16 hurt in that blast. The bodies were too charred to immediately identify how many were Iraqi soldiers and how many civilians. In the New Baghdad district in the southeast of the city, eyewitness Basim Mohammed said he saw a car bomber ram an armoured US convoy at high speed, but saw no casualties. Davis confirmed that was one of the car bombs recorded by US forces. He said two US soldiers were hurt. Another bomb struck near Andalus square in the town centre. Correspondents in central Baghdad heard that blast, followed by gunfire. An Interior Ministry source said the blast was caused by a suicide car bomb that wounded five Iraqi soldiers and three civilians. Smoking wreckage of cars was also visible at a blast site near the old Iraqi Defence Ministry headquarters. Iraqi troops ran around and gunshots could be heard after the blast. Police sources said 19 Iraqi soldiers were wounded there. And another apparent suicide car bomb exploded outside a garage, witnesses and Iraqi police sources said. (China Daily 07/16/2005 page7)
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