Global General

Iraq: Twin car bombs kill 26 in Baghdad

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-06-20 19:54

Demonstrators chant slogans during a protest in Basra, 550 km (342 miles) south of Baghdad, June 19, 2010. [Agencies]

BAGHDAD - The toll from twin bomb blasts at the Trade Bank of Iraq in Baghdad on Sunday rose to 26 dead with 53 people wounded, police and an Interior Ministry source said.

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The bombings occurred a week after an assault by suicide bombers on Iraq's Central Bank in which 18 people died, highlighting fears of increasing violence as militants try to exploit a political vacuum after a March election that produced no clear winner and no new government so far.

The nearly simultaneous blasts occurred shortly after 11 am as the area was crowded with people at the start of the work week.

Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi said the attack on the Trade Bank involved two suicide bombers in cars, who drove at the main gate of the bank and blew up when they struck blastwalls. Moussawi put the death toll at 18.

Persistent bombings in Baghdad and surrounding areas have raised fears that insurgents are stepping up attacks in a bid to foment unrest by exploiting political deadlock following inconclusive March 7 elections.

Last week, suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militants stormed the central bank and exchanged gunfire with Iraqi security forces in a standoff that brought part of the capital to a standstill.