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37 killed in fresh Iraq violence

BAGHDAD: At least 37 people were killed in three major incidents in Iraq on Monday.

In the first incident, 17 people were killed when triple car bomb blasts slammed heavily-protected hotels used by foreigners in the centre of the Iraqi capital.

The attack came amid mounting tension over the delayed outcome to Iraq’s constitutional vote. The blasts hit three points around Firdus Square, where the statue of ousted president Saddam Hussein was toppled when US troops marched into Baghdad in April 2003, and shook the Palestine, Sheraton and Sadir hotels.

A shock wave that followed the flashes was felt across central Baghdad and a white mushroom cloud then slowly billowed up from the buildings, followed by two more. A senior security source said 17 people were killed and nine wounded. “The victims are either security guards, hotel employees or passers-by,” the source said, without saying if any foreigners were among them.

Video images showed a cement truck breaching the security perimeter for the Palestine and Sheraton hotels just as the first explosion occurred on the opposite side of the square. The truck came to a halt and a massive explosion followed. “If the truck driven by a suicide bomber had not been stopped in time by the guards who opened fire, it would have totally devastated the Sheraton,” another security source said. Taking place outside the hotels where security contractors and many of the media have their base , the blasts appeared aimed at grabbing global attention. The Palestine Hotel – where two journalists were killed by US fire a day before Saddam was ousted in April 2003 – suffered major damage.

Two employees of the Moroccan embassy in Iraq have also disappeared on the road between the Jordanian capital Amman and Baghdad, the Moroccan ministry of foreign affairs and cooperation said.

In the latest development in the trial of Saddam Hussein, the court heard testimony at the bedside of a key witness amid fears the former top official could take potentially crucial evidence to his grave.

Meanwhile, 12 Iraqi building workers were gunned down. The workers were working on the construction of a new government building in Jorf Al-Sakhr about 50 kilometres south of Baghdad. In other attacks, eight Iraqis were killed, including five members of the security forces, following a spate of bloodshed on Sunday that saw 28 people die. Oil exports from Iraq were halted by a combination of insurgent attacks in the north and bad weather in the south.

Al-Jazeera television aired footage on Monday of the purported shooting of a US soldier in Iraq by a member of the so-called Islamic Army in Iraq. agencies

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