A car bomb went off in central Baghdad Thursday, killing 17 people and injuring at least eight in a crowded commercial area, police said.
A police captain said that the explosion had narrowly missed a U.S. convoy that passed by seconds before. According to The AP, the explosion took place near Nasser Square on Saadoun Street, a commercial area with major hotels housing foreigners.
Another car bomb exploded in northern Iraq near a convoy carrying the governor of Kirkuk province, killing one bystander and injuring 14 others. Police said Governor Abdul-Rahman Mustafa, a Kurd, was unharmed.
In Fallujah, American forces bombed the southern part of the city with airstrikes and artillery on Thursday. On Wednesday, US planes destroyed the minarets of the city's Khulafah Al Rashid mosque. In the past 24 hours of fighting, three US soldiers were killed while another 17 were wounded in Fallujah, the U.S. military said. All in all, 18 US troops killed in three days of fighting. American sources said more than "500" Iraqi resistance fighters were killed. (albawaba.com)
