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9 killed as car bomber hits Iraq minister's convoy

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-23 16:04

BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber slammed his explosives-filled car into the convoy of Iraq's labour minister in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least nine people, security officials said.

Iraqi boys watch as US soldiers patrol a village near Baquba in Diyala province, some 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, October 22, 2008. A suicide bomber slammed his explosives-filled car into the convoy of Iraq's labour minister in Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least nine people, security officials said. [Agencies]

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The bomber attacked Shiite minister Mahmud Jawad al-Radi's convoy in central Baghdad's Tahreer Square but the minister escaped unhurt, ministry spokesman Abdullah al-Lami said.

Ten people were wounded in the attack, the security officials added.

Radi is the second minister from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's 40-member cabinet to have been attacked in less than four months.

On July 15, Electricity Minister Karim Wahid escaped a roadside bomb attack in eastern Baghdad which left three of his bodyguards wounded.