/ 8 March 2006

String of explosions rocks Baghdad

A string of explosions on Wednesday killed at least six people — including two young boys — and injured nine in the Iraqi capital, police said.

A bomb hidden under a parked car near the University of Technology exploded as police from the interior minister’s protection force were driving through central Baghdad, killing two officers and injuring another, police major Abbas Mohammed Salman said. Four bystanders were also wounded, he said.

The minister was not in the convoy at the time of the blast, Salman said.

Another bomb missed an American convoy on the northern outskirts of Baghdad and killed two Iraqi boys who were selling gasoline by the side of the road, police captain Qassim Hussein said. He estimated their age at about 10 or 11.

A third bomb hit a police patrol in the northern Bab al-Muadam area, killing two officers and injuring four others, said police captain Muhanand al-Bahadili.

Several other explosions caused no casualties, police said. — Sapa-AP