A car bomb blew up near a U.S. Air Force base north of Baghdad on Monday, killing two Iraqi civilians and injuring 25 others, an Iraqi Civil Defense Corps official said.
The blast took place outside the base near the town of Balad, about 80 kilometers north of Baghdad, the official, Saeed Kadhim, said, according to The AP.
Elsewhere, an American soldier and an Iraqi interpreter killed by a roadside bomb as they were carrying out a patrol west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Monday.
The attack in Saturday evening took place as occupation troops were operating in the district of Abu Ghraib on the western parts of the Iraqi capital, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, Finland's Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja and Foreign Trade and Development Minister Paula Lehtomäki on Monday announced the killing of two Finnish citizens in Baghdad.
"We are deeply shocked by the brutal murder of two Finnish businessmen in Baghdad this morning. On behalf of the Finnish government and ourselves, we would like to extend our condolences to the families and friends of the victims. The events in Baghdad demonstrate the amount of work we have ahead of us in our cooperation with the Iraqi people in rebuilding the nation and making it secure," an official statement said.
The two were part of a Finnish technological team visiting Baghdad, foreign ministry spokesman Markus Lyra said.
"The men were on their way to the Ministry of Electricity to make business contacts as part of a larger group," he added, according to The AP.
The two men were killed inside a tunnel in one of west Baghdad's main highways, according to Iraqis at the scene.
(Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
