| GEO World | | Three killed in double bomb attack near Baghdad shrine | Updated at: 1700 PST, Saturday, September 12, 2009
BAGHDAD: A double bomb attack near a shrine and close to a major army base in central Baghdad killed at least three people and wounded dozens on Saturday, security and health officials said.
A bomb in a parked car exploded at 12.35 pm (0935 GMT) close to the shrine and next to the former site of the country's defence ministry, an interior ministry official said, giving the death toll.
A second explosion occurred nearby in the area which is also close to the Iraqi health ministry, he said. An official at Medical City Hospital in the capital said 35 people were being treated for injuries.
The interior ministry official the explosion was in an area between the health ministry and the military base where major construction work is going on.
Plumes of black smoke enveloped the site in the immediate aftermath of the explosion.
The blast followed several deadly incidents across Iraq this week, including a suicide attack on a security checkpoint in the western city of Ramadi, a former Al-Qaeda hotspot, and a truck bombing in a northern Kurd village.
Statistics compiled by the defence, interior and health ministries on September 1 showed 456 people -- 393 civilians, 48 police and 15 Iraqi soldiers -- were killed in Iraq in August, the highest monthly toll since July last year when 465 died in unrest. |  |
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