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At Least 30 Killed in Baghdad Explosions

   VOA News 04 April 2010

   Iraqi  officials  say  three  car  bomb  blasts rocked central Baghdad
   Sunday,  killing at least 30 people and wounding more than 160 others.
   Â
   Iraqi  officials  say  two of the explosions were near the Iranian and
   Egyptian embassies.
   A security spokesman told the French news agency the near-simultaneous
   blasts were suicide car bombings.
   The  blasts shook buildings and shattered windows, sending a column of
   smoke across the Iraqi capital.
   Gunfire  was  heard  after the explosions as helicopters flew over the
   city.
   On  Saturday, Iraqi military officials imposed a curfew in the village
   of  Bou  Saifi  near  Baghdad,  where gunmen wearing military uniforms
   killed at least 24 people a day earlier.
   The Iraqi Interior Ministry has blamed al-Qaida for the slaying of men
   and  women  who  reportedly  had connections to the pro-U.S. Awakening
   movement, that helped U.S. and Iraqi forces fight al-Qaida.
   Local  officials  said  most  of the victims were tied up and brutally
   beaten  before  they were killed execution style.  They said security
   forces found seven people tied up but alive.
   Iraqi  security  forces detained at least 25 people in connection with
   the slayings.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP.

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