Blasts kill 14 at Baghdad airport

05/14/2006

Fourteen Iraqis have died in a double suicide attack near Baghdad’s airport on a day of bloodshed which has claimed

26 lives in the Iraqi capital.

(BBC)—The blasts took place in a car park close to the airport compound, the US military said.

Militants north of the capital also attacked the Iraqi foreign minister’s convoy, killing two of his bodyguards.

The violence came a day after two British soldiers died in a bombing near Basra, the British army said.

Another six people were injured in the blasts outside the airport, which saw two vehicles packed with explosives being detonated in a car park, the US military said.

Elsewhere in the capital, another 12 people died when at least six bombs detonated across Baghdad in a series of apparent attacks on police patrols, officials said.

Market attack

Most of the victims were said to be civilians.

Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari was not with his convoy at the time of the blast, which left three people injured.

Police said the attack on Mr Zebari’s convoy took place as it was travelling on a road north of Baghdad.

Sunday’s bloodshed occurred as the parliament met to try and form a government of national unity. Insurgents and police also clashed in northern Iraq.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari was not in the convoy at the time

At least five civilians were killed when a bomb aimed at a police patrol exploded on Palestine Street, officials said.

In northern Baghdad, three policemen were killed when their patrol hit a roadside bomb, which left another 13 people wounded.

And at least three more civilians were killed when a bomb detonated at a market in the southern part of the city, police said.

There was further violence in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, where clashes with insurgents left one policeman dead.

The violence erupted as the Iraqi parliament met under Prime Minister designate Nouri Maliki, to try and form a government of national unity.