13 killed, 49 wounded in Iraq
2005-04-23 18:54
Baghdad - Thirteen Iraqis were killed and at least 49 people wounded, including three US soldiers, in a spate of bomb and mortar attacks in and around Baghdad on Saturday, security sources said.
Nine Iraqi soldiers were killed and 20 people wounded when a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle in Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of the capital, a defence ministry official said.
The injured included both soldiers and civilians, the official added.
Abu Ghraib houses the notorious US-run jail of the same name which was at the centre of a prisoner abuse scandal last year.
One Iraqi was killed and at least five civilians wounded when a suicide bomber blew up a car in a morning attack on a US military convoy in western Baghdad, an interior ministry source said.
The US military said three US soldiers and seven Iraqi civilians were wounded in the attack, which happened on a road running parallel to the main highway leading to the airport, a notoriously dangerous part of the capital.
Militants loyal to Iraq's Al-Qaeda frontman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on the internet.
"This Saturday, a lion from the martyrs' brigade carried out a heroic attack on a convoy of Jews and Crusaders on the airport road and blew himself up to deserve paradise," said the statement posted on an Islamist website.
In a third attack, one Iraqi woman was killed and seven people wounded in a bomb blast under a bridge in western Baghdad, interior ministry and hospital sources said.
"The casualties include one dead woman, two wounded women and five injured men," Nur hospital emergency staff said.
North of the capital, two Iraqi soldiers were killed and four wounded in a mortar attack in Dhuluiyah, 70km from Baghdad, the army said.