Iraq: More Than 100 Die In Wave Of Bombings

7:26pm UK, Sunday July 17, 2005

There has been a fresh wave of suicide car bombings in Iraq, in a weekend that has seen the deaths of more than 100 people.

The biggest loss of life came in a fuel truck blast south of Baghdad, in which at least 98 people died.

The bomber detonated his explosives near this fuel truck

In the latest attacks, on Iraqi and US security patrols, 19 people have been killed.

The first bombing killed two policemen and one civilian in the eastern New Baghdad neighbourhood.

Seven policemen were injured,some seriously.

About an hour later another car bomb exploded near a police convoy near the Bay'a bus station in southern Baghdad, killing three police commandos and four civilians.

The third attack missed a US convoy but struck two minibuses, killing six civilians in the troubled Mahmoudiya town about 20 miles miles south of the capital.

In eastern Baghdad, another car bomber sped toward a police patrol, exploding early but killing one policeman.

The attacks followed a suicide bombing at a petrol station near the capital, in which at least 98 people were killed and another 156 were wounded.

The bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body near a Shi'ite mosque south of Baghdad on Saturday.

The initial blast sparked a huge explosion in a fuel tanker, which caused most of the injuries.

That attack took place in Musayyib, about 40 miles south of Baghdad.

Iraq's parliament has called for the country to fall silent for a minute on Wednesday in memory of the 32 victims - most of them children - killed last week by a car bomb as they surrounded US soldiers handing out chocolates in Baghdad, and of the dead in Musayyib.

On Friday, at least seven suicide attacks exploded in the country, killing at least 30 and wounding over 110 people.