A car bomber attacked a convoy carrying Iraq's justice minister Saturday, killing at least four people but leaving the minister unscathed, troops at the scene in Baghdad said. Another car bomb in Mahmudiya, just south of Baghdad, killed two Iraqi National Guardsmen and wounded 25 people, the latest in a series of attacks targeting Iraq's security forces. Witnesses said the bomber drove toward the convoy carrying Justice Minister Malik al-Hassan and then detonated his vehicle in a ball of flame. "There was a blast alongside the convoy. A booby-trapped car came alongside and blew up," said Hussein Abed, a traffic policeman. Five gutted cars were littered across the road, and Iraqis collected human remains from the street. One boy scooped up pieces of flesh with cigarette packets. A man collected remains including part of a foot, with the big toe still intact, on a tray. Hospital officials said at least eight people were wounded. **Hostage Crisis*** Insurgents have repeatedly targeted top officials. Earlier this week a regional governor was killed when his convoy was ambushed. In May, a bomb attack killed Izzedin Salim, the president of the country's Governing Council. Diplomats in Baghdad and Bulgarian officials said a headless corpse in an orange jumpsuit found in the Tigris River on Thursday was probably that of one of the Bulgarians. Hopes of finding the second Bulgarian alive were fading, they said. "The information is unfavorable but we are still awaiting confirmation," Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg told reporters when asked about the fate of the second hostage. Iraqis have also seized a Filipino driver and an Egyptian. The Philippines is withdrawing its small military contingent from Iraq ahead of schedule in an effort to save the life of truck driver Angelo de la Cruz. Eleven members of the contingent, including its commander Brigadier General Jovito Palparan, arrived in Kuwait overnight on their way back to the Philippines. In Manila, presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a newspaper column that it could take some time to secure de la Cruz's release. Washington has criticized the pull-out and Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has also urged foreign countries not to give in to kidnappers and hostage takers. De la Cruz said in a message he would be returning home, Arabic channel Al Jazeera said on Thursday. But the group holding the father of eight said it would free him only after Manila withdrew its last soldier. **PHOTO CAPTION*** U.S. troops arrive at the scene of a roadside bomb explosion in southern Baghdad, July 16, 2004. (Reuters)