At least 22 die in Iraq bomb attacks

At least 22 people, including seven Iraqi soldiers, were killed in  a series of bomb attacks in Iraq today.

At least 22 people, including seven Iraqi soldiers, were killed in  a series of bomb attacks in Iraq today.

Two suicide bombers struck an Iraqi army base in northern Iraq, killing seven soldiers and wounding 15.

Residents look at the wreckage of a vehicle used in a car bomb attack in the the Shia Kamaliya area of Baghdad today
Residents look at the wreckage of a vehicle used in a car bomb attack in the the Shia Kamaliya area of Baghdad today

Police said the first bomber detonated his vehicle after ramming the gate of the base in the town of Riyadh, south of the volatile oil city of Kirkuk. The second bomber managed to enter the base before blowing himself up, a police spokesman said.

Two car bombs exploded simultaneously in a religiously mixed district of east Baghdad, killing five people and wounding ten, the Interior Ministry said.

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The blasts in New Baghdad District followed a car bomb explosion in a crowded area of mainly Shia Kamaliya in eastern Baghdad earlier today, killing ten people and wounding 25.

An  Interior Ministry official said the bomb exploded near a mosque in the Shia Kamaliya area but this did not appear to have been the target.

The area is normally crowded in the early morning with poor Shia day labourers looking for jobs and is a pickup point for commuters wanting to travel to other parts of Baghdad.

It is next to Sadr City, a sprawling Shia slum where more than 200 people were killed last month in a multiple car bombing that was the worst attack since the US invasion in 2003.

Yesterday, 60 people were killed and hundreds wounded when a suicide car bomber exploded his vehicle among a crowd of Shia day labourers in Tayaran Square in central Baghdad.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called the bombing a "horrible massacre" and blamed it on Sunni al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein sympathisers.