Car bomb kills 30

2005-11-24 11:50

Baghdad - A car bomb detonated outside a hospital in the centre of a town south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing 30 and wounding 35, a doctor said.

Among the dead were four police guards, three women and two children, said Dr Dawoud al-Taie, the director of the Mahmoudiya hospital.

Iraqi army Captain Ibrahim Abdeallah said the suicide bomber was targeting United States military vehicles parked near the hospital in Mahmoudiya, about 30km south of Baghdad. He said US troops sealed off the scene and there was no damage to the US vehicles. There were no immediate reports of US casualties.

Mahmoudiya is a religiously mixed town in the so-called triangle of death, a region known for attacks on coalition forces and Shi'ites moving through the area to visit shrines south of the region.

- AP