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Wave of bombings kills at least 35 in Baghdad

A resident stands amid carnage after a mini bus exploded in the central district of Karrada in Baghdad yesterday, killing nine people and wounding 12. PHOTO: AP

Two car bombs exploded minutes apart in a busy Baghdad market in a mainly Shiite district yesterday, killing at least 18 people, police said. Two seperate explosions later in the day on mini-buses killed another 17 people.

North of the capital, two British helicopters crashed after an apparent mid-air collision, killing two service members, UK officials said.

The bombings in the southwest Baghdad market opened yesterday's renewal of sectarian carnage a day after insurgents exploded a bomb close to one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines in Karbalah.

The Karbalah's health department yesterday revised its death tolls from the attack, saying 47 people were killed and 224 injured.

The two British helicopters crashed after an apparent collision 19km north of Baghdad, killing two British personnel. Four other personnel were injured in the crash.

"An investigation will be conducted to determine the cause of the incident; however, initial reports indicated it appears to be from a mid-air collision and not the result of enemy fire," the US military said in a statement.

Later, UK Defense Secretary Des Browne said the helicopters and casualties were British and that initial reports suggested the crash was an accident.

"Sadly, two personnel have died and one is very seriously injured. All of these were UK personnel. My thoughts and sympathy are with them and their families," Browne said, adding that the next of kin had been informed.

The initial US statement referred to the downed helicopters as "coalition," but officials later said they were investigating reports that they were British. British forces, headquartered in the southern city of Basra, rarely fly missions north of Baghdad, where the helicopters crashed.

"I can't talk about the particular mission they were involved in, but we do have units operating as part of the coalition across Iraq," a British defense ministry official said on condition of anonymity, in line with government policy.

Also yesterday, a suicide bomber blew himself up on a minibus in northwest Baghdad, killing at least eight people and wounding 11, police and hospital officials said.

The blast occurred shortly after noon near a courthouse in the al-Utafiyah neighborhood. Many of the victims were severely burned, an official at the Khazimiyah Hospital said.

Two civilian cars nearby were damaged, police said.

The bombing was near the al-Sarafiyah bridge, which collapsed because of a suicide truck bomb on Thursday, killing 11 people.

A parked minibus exploded in the Karradah neighborhood of central Baghdad yesterday, killing nine civilians and wounding 12 others, police and hospital officials said. The blast damaged several cars and nearby shops, witnesses said.

A possible presidential contender and one of the most vocal Republican critics of US President George W. Bush's Iraq policy, Senator Chuck Hagel, was in Baghdad and planned to hold a news conference later yesterday. It was his fifth trip to the war zone.

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