9:45pm UK, Wednesday April 21, 2004

Up to 68 people - 17 of them children - have been killed and around 200 injured in a series of suicide bomb attacks in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

Rescuers help the injured

The children were on their way to school in two minibuses when they were caught in one of the blasts.

One was carrying nursery school youngsters, the other pupils from a girls' middle school.

There were four almost simultaneous explosions in the British-controlled town during the morning rush hour.

Three targeted police stations and the fourth a police academy in the suburb of Zubair.

Five soldiers from the 1st Royal Welch Fusiliers were injured in the academy blast, one of them seriously, the Ministry of Defence said.

Basra's mayor Wael Abdul-Hafeez claimed Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network was behind the attacks.

"I accuse al Qaeda. We have arrested a person disguised in a police uniform. We are questioning him," he said.


Foreign Sectretary Jack Straw has condemned the bombings as "vicious", while Tony Blair said they were a sign of the terrorists growing "desperation".

The attacks are by far the worst in the largely peaceful city since the US-led occupation began a year ago.

One wounded Iraqi, Amin Dinar, said he heard a huge explosion as he stood at the door of his house.

"I looked around and saw my leg bleeding and my neighbour lying dead on the floor, torn apart," he said from his hospital bed.

"I saw a minibus full of children on fire - 15 of the 18 passengers were killed and three badly wounded."

The school buses were hit as they were passing a police station in Basra's Saudia district.

The explosion left a gaping hole in front of the police station.

Soon after a blast in the nearby town of Zubeir killed three Iraqis and injured four British soldiers. Two were badly hurt.

The incidents are the latest in a growing number of attacks on Coalition targets in Iraq.