Roadside bombs kill one, injure 8 in Iraq
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-15 16:28

Militants exploded three roadside bombs Friday in the Iraqi capital, killing at least one civilian and wounding eight, officials said, the latest in a string of deadly attacks across Baghdad.

One bomb exploded near a U.S. convoy in the western Mansour district, witnesses said. One damaged Humvee could be scene in the area, which was sealed off by U.S. forces.

At least five civilians were injured in the blast, said Ihssan Abdul Razaq, an official at the Yarmouk Hospital, where rescue workers brought the wounded.

An Iraqi man is treated at the Yarmouk Hospital following a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad April 15, 2005. A large explosion ripped through the upscale Mansour district as a U.S. military convoy was driving past, killing one person and injuring at least five, witnesses said. There were no immediate reports on U.S. casualties. [Reuters]

Another jerry-rigged device exploded in an eastern neighborhood where U.S. forces were also on patrol, killing one civilian and wounding three others, a police official said on condition of anonymity.

A third blast didn't appear to cause any injuries, said Cap. Talib Thamir. The U.S. military confirmed the trio of attacks but had no further information.

Pakistan on Friday urged kidnappers in Iraq to release a Pakistani embassy official who disappeared outside his Baghdad home, and Al-Jazeera satellite television aired a video that claimed to show the man.

Iraqi police view a damaged U.S. Army Humvee following a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad April 15, 2005. [Reuters]

The broadcaster did not air audio of the tape but said the man identified himself as Malik Mohammed Javed, who was abducted Saturday as he left his home to attend prayers at a mosque.

"We again appeal to Javed's kidnappers to free him in the name of Islam," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Amhed said Friday.

"We appeal to them not to harm him because his aged parents and other family members have already suffered a lot."

A fight broke out among prisoners at the United States' largest detention center in Iraq, leaving one detainee dead and a dozen injured, the military said Friday.

The military said in a statement it had launched an investigation into the melee Thursday night at Camp Bucca in southeastern Iraq. The facility houses 6,000 detainees, or nearly two-thirds of all those in Iraq.

A U.S. Marine died when an insurgent mortar round landed inside a military base in western Iraq, the military said Friday.

The Marine, assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, died after a Wednesday attack at Camp Hit, in Anbar province, the military said.

A main Baghdad market went up in flames late Thursday, but officials said Friday they didn't believe foul play was behind the inferno that engulfed al-Shurja market.

"Preliminary investigations indicate that the fire was not caused by arson," Interior Ministry Cap. Ahmed Ismael said. "More investigations are underway."

Earlier Thursday, twin car bombs killed 18 people in Baghdad, the highest death toll from an explosion in Iraq in over a month. More than 30 people, including five policemen, were injured in Thursday's blast, police said.

Al-Qaida in Iraq said two suicide bombers carried out the attack, targeting a police patrol; the claim couldn't be independently verified.

Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib, in charge of the nation's police, was in his office at the time of the attack, but left afterward to announce that he was fine and to examine the scorched road and blackened rubble left behind. Built by Saddam Hussein's government to survive major attacks, the building containing his office was not damaged.

Reports of daily gunbattles and explosions had died down in mid-March, and the Iraqi and U.S. governments declared that the lull was a sign that their fighters were winning the battle against the insurgency. But militants have stepped up assaults this month.

At least two consecutive explosions shook Baghdad after dark Thursday, an hour before the city's curfew was imposed, prompting helicopters to sweep across the night sky. Police officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the blasts appeared to have been caused by mortar rounds or rockets that landed near the city's Technology University. At least four people were wounded, the official said.

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