Suicide and roadside bomb blasts in the same Baghdad street killed at least 16 Iraqis and injured 25 on Thursday, police and hospital officials said. A man with an explosives belt strapped around his waist walked into a crowded coffee shop on Saadoun Street and detonated his bomb, killing 12 people and injuring 20, said police Maj. Mohammed Younis.
Just seconds later, according to the AP, a bomb planted underneath a parked car outside the nearby al-Mathak restaurant exploded, killing at least four people and wounding five, including two women, Younis added.
Meanwhile, Iraq has recommended American authorities free six of the eight Iraqi females in military custody, but claimed it was not connected to a bid to secure the release of an abducted US journalist, a government official said Thursday.
Gunmen holding 28-year-old Jill Carroll have demanded U.S. authorities release all Iraqi female captives or else they would execute the reporter, who was kidnapped Jan. 7 in Baghdad. According to the AP, U.S. officials have stated eight women were in security detention and none had been freed as of Wednesday night.
A government commission reviewing cases of Iraqi detainees recommended to U.S. authorities on Monday that six be released. An official from the Human Rights Ministry, which is part of the commission, said the call to free the women was not made in response to demands from Carroll's kidnappers.
