At least four people were killed and three wounded, including a small girl, in a bomb attack on Saturday targeting Iraqi Justice Minister Malek Dohan al-Hassan, who escaped unhurt, hospital officials said.
”We have four killed and three injured,” said Hazem Abdulrahman Hussein, who is in charge of the emergency unit at Eskan hospital.
Among those hurt in the blast, which ripped through the Adl district in the west of the capital just before 9am local time, was a four-year-old girl, Hussein said, adding that the three had been transported to Yarmuk hospital.
Earlier, Colonel Adnan Abdul Rahman, a spokesperson for the interior ministry, said two bodyguards travelling in a convoy with the minister had died in the explosion.
”It was a convoy for the minister of justice,” said Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Rachid, who spoke of ”several injured”.
The cause of the blast was attributed to a suicide car bomber by some people on the scene but others said it was a powerful roadside device targeting the convoy.
Car bomb
Meanwhile, a car bomb exploded outside an Iraqi National Guard headquarters in a city south of the capital on Saturday, killing one person and wounding 22 others, hospital officials said.
Ambulances raced to the scene and police cordoned off the area in Mahmudiyah, 30km south of Baghdad.
The explosion occurred at about 7.45am local time while prospective recruits were waiting to get into the headquarters, said Dr Dawoud Jassim Taie, director of the Mahmudiyah hospital. Six of those injured were National Guard troops while the rest were prospective recruits, he said.
National Guard troops became suspicious of a parked car near the first checkpoint and opened fire, said one officer, who declined to be named. The bomb went off about 10m from the first checkpoint.
The wounded were transported to Mahmudiyah hospital, but were expected to be later taken to Baghdad’s Yarmouk hospital for further treatment, Taie said.
Insurgents have repeatedly targeted police and security officials in Iraq, because they are seen as being collaborators with the Americans. — Sapa-AFP, Sapa-AP