96 killed as serial blasts rip through Baghdad

Bombings rocked Baghdad killing 96 people and wounding 500 others, making Wednesday one of the deadliest days since the US handed over security of the country to Iraqis. In total there were six explosions within an hour, Iraq’s interior ministry officials said.

In one attack, a truck bomb explosion partly damaged the ministry of foreign affairs building. Another occurred outside the building of ministry of finance.

A roadside bomb exploded on Kifa Street in central Baghdad. Another bomb exploded in the Salhiya neighbourhood and two more exploded in eastern Baghdad’s Beirut Square, officials said.

In yet another attack, two mortars were fired into the Green Zone, the heavily fortified area in Baghdad that houses the US Embassy and many government ministries.

The four-square-mile area served as a refuge for Westerners for six years. The United States relinquished security control to the Iraqis earlier this year.

“I was in my home with my family when the roof collapsed on us,” said Hamid, 46, who lives a few hundred metres from the foreign ministry compound which was targeted along with the finance ministry. “The government promised us security would return but where is the security?”

Iraqi security forces arrested two people in Baghdad believed to be connected to the bombings, an official with the Iraqi army said.

The two suspects were driving in a car rigged with explosives before they were arrested, the official said. The two suspects were believed to be al Qaeda’s senior leaders, the official said.

The United States pulled back its combat troops from Iraqi cities and towns on June 30, leaving security responsibilities to the Iraqis and remaining only in a training and advisory capacity. The US military continues to conduct combat operations in cities and towns.