Baghdad car bombing: Six dead

2004-11-02 11:57

Baghdad - At least six people were killed when a suicide car bomb exploded outside Iraq's education ministry in Baghdad on Tuesday, while hundreds of people fled the rebel-held city of Fallujah after a night of US air raids.

The latest violence came as the people of the United States prepared to go to the polls to vote on their next president in an election campaign that has focused much attention on Washington's decision to invade Iraq.

Another bomb exploded near the notorious Abu Ghraib prison injuring two Iraqi national guards, while six staff from a Saudi company, including an American, remained missing after kidnappers raided their Baghdad offices on Monday.

"It was a suicide attack, we found the body of the driver inside the charred remains of the car," said police lieutenant Bassam Bahr of the first attack.

The bomber attempted to ram the gates outside the heavily-protected ministry compound but was stopped by guards before detonating his charge, according to one of the guards on duty.

Dazed residents stood in dreary rain, surveying the destruction, with scraps of metal, glass and other debris littering the streets.

"I said many times that they should improve security and not allow cars to park outside," said Taghid al-Omai who walked outside to find the wreck of a car in her garden.

A casualty toll from two nearby hospitals counted six dead, including an elderly woman, and 21 wounded.

- AFP