At least 11 more killed, as latest Iraq death toll passes 100

Jan 17, 2007, 12:10 GMT

Baghdad - At least 11 Iraqis were killed and 36 wounded in two bomb attacks in Baghdad and Kirkuk Wednesday, bringing the death toll to over 100 in the last 24 hours, police and hospital sources said.

At least 236 people have been wounded in the series of bomb attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, police said.

On Wednesday, four Iraqis were killed and 11 wounded when a bomb went off in a bus near an office of the Shiite leader, Moqtada al- Sadr, in Baghdad, an Iraqi security source said.

In the northern city of Kirkuk, a car bomb killed seven Iraqis and wounded 25 others when it exploded near the Quriyah police station in the city centre, an Iraq police source said.

Some of the dead were policeman, the source added.

Tuesday's car bomb attack on the Mustansiriya University in Baghdad killed at least 70 people, including 60 students.

Police said at least 110 people were wounded when extremists detonated two car bombs outside the university and a suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt blew himself up next to a group of students.

The university was closed on Wednesday and students were staying away from lectures at other colleges in the city for fear of attacks, reports said.

The attack on the university was the fourth in a series of bombs Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, two bombs were detonated in quick succession near a Sunni mosque in central Baghdad, killing 15 people and wounding up to 70.

Another city-centre blast, reported to have been a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol, killed two police officers and two civilians. At least 10 others were wounded.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki blamed 'terrorists and followers of former leader Saddam Hussein' for the attacks.

The US military reported Wednesday that they had freed a hostage while on patrol in the Amiriyah quarter of the Baghdad Tuesday.

The soldiers freed the hostage after responding to cries for help they heard coming from a house where the hostage was being held.