Women killed in Baghdad blasts

24/11/2008| IslamWeb

Two bombs exploded in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing up to 18 people.

Iraqi police said as many as 13 women died on Monday after a roadside bomb struck a minibus carrying female employees from the trade ministry to work in eastern Baghdad.

One of those killed was a young girl less than 10 years old, security officials said.

Seven people were also wounded in the explosion.

In the second attack, less than an hour later, a female suicide bomber killed at least five people and injured a dozen others when she detonated her explosives outside the foreign ministry, police said.

The US military said the attack at the entrance to the Green Zone in central Baghdad killed two Iraqi army members and three civilians.

The rush hour violence came as Iraqi legislators prepared for a vote later in the week on a security agreement with Washington that would allow US forces to remain in the country for up to three more years.

PHOTO CAPTION

Rescue workers lift a body following a suicide bomb outside the heavily-guarded Green Zone in central Baghdad.

Al-Jazeera