Two car bombs kill at least 6 in central Baghdad
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-18 14:11

Two car bombs detonated Friday morning in a central Baghdad residential neighborhood, killing at least six people and injuring 43 more near an Interior Ministry building U.S. troops found detainees who showed signs of torture, police said.

Iraqi emergency workers work to clear rubble from the site of a collapsed building in central Baghdad after two early morning explosions, November 18, 2005. [Reuters]

The blast in the Jadiriyah neighborhood reverberated through the city center, sent a mushroom cloud hundreds of feet into the air and was followed by sporadic small arms fire.

Three birds fly in front of a column of smoke rising over Baghdad after two early morning explosions November 18, 2005.[Reuters]

Associated Press Television News footage showed several residential buildings collapsed from the blast and a large crater in the road. Firefighters joined neighbors to dig through the debris and under toppled blast barriers to pull victims from the rubble.

Police Capt. Nabil Abdel-qadir said the two car bombs were detonated behind the Interior Ministry building. six civilians were killed and three police officers were among the injured, he said.

U.S. troops found up to 173 malnourished detainees _ some showing signs of torture _ in the building on Sunday. Most were believed to be Sunni Arabs, the main group in the insurgency.

In a statement Thursday, the U.S. Embassy said Iraqi authorities had given assurances that they will investigate the conditions of detainees found Sunday night and that the abuse of prisoners "will not be tolerated by either the Iraqi government" or U.S.-led forces anywhere in the country.