Car bombs kill 11 in twin suicide attacks

HILLA - Suicide car bombers killed at least 11 Iraqis and wounded 58 foreign troops early yesterday in twin attacks on a military base south of Baghdad in the run-up to a United Nations report on the feasibility of direct elections in Iraq.

US soldiers captured seven insurgents with possible links to al Qaeda during a raid in Baquba, 60km north of Baghdad, the US military said.

A further 15 people were arrested in the same raid.

The US has frequently suggested al Qaeda was trying to infiltrate Iraq and launch attacks against US forces and sow strife between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

A spokesman for Polish-led forces in Hilla, about 100km south of Baghdad, said 44 Iraqis were wounded in the suicide attacks. The soldiers' wounds were not life-threatening.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Strzelecki said that guards outside the base stopped one of the cars by shooting at it but that a second car exploded after smashing into a wall.

The Iraqis killed in the blast included men, women and children.

The blasts, like car bombs last week that killed about 100 people as they enlisted in the Iraqi Army and police, left survivors blaming Iraq's US occupiers for the bloodshed.

"We heard the sound of a plane overhead and a rocket landed and then a second rocket landed," said Omar Zayed, 17, who lives near the site of the explosion.

The wounded foreigners included at least 12 Filipinos, 12 Poles, 10 Hungarians and two Americans.

The US-backed Governing Council said it was pushing ahead on an interim constitution, which is to give a legal framework for the transitional government. The drafting of the interim constitution, or Basic Law, is a key step in a US plan for a power transfer, which has hit a snag due to demands for elections before the transfer of sovereignty rather than the caucuses Washington had wanted.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is scheduled to present a report today or tomorrow that will say direct elections, as demanded by the top religious authority for Shiite Muslims, are not possible by June 30 but could be held later this year or early next year.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq