Attacks in Iraqi capital kill nearly 20, police declare

A car bomb explosion at a major crimes unit in downtown Baghdad Thursday killed at least 15 people and wounded more than 30, police Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammadawi said.

Photo: Attacks in Iraqi capital kill nearly 20, police declare

It was not immediately clear how many of those killed were bystanders and how many were employees of the Karradah unit, which is run by the Interior Ministry, he said.

Suspected insurgents also set off roadside bombs targeting police patrols across the capital, killing at least four people and wounding a dozen others, police said.

The roadside blast in Baghdad 's mostly Sunni Muslim neighborhood of Azamiyah killed two policemen and two bystanders, according to police Lt. Ahmed Mohammed Ali. At least seven others two policemen and five civilians were wounded, he said.

Another bomb in the capital wounded four civilians but no police in Karradah, which is mostly Shiite but has a large Sunni minority.

In Iskandariyah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Baghdad , a roadside bomb killed one policemen and wounded two pedestrians, police said.

Back in the capital, another civilian was seriously wounded by an Iraqi army patrol that was shooting in the air to clear traffic in the western neighborhood of Yarmouk, police said, reports the AP.

D.M.