Three car bomb attacks kill 43 in Baghdad
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-17 18:26

Three car bomb attacks near a bus station and hospital in Baghdad Wednesday killed at least 43 people and wounded 89, in the deadliest attacks in the capital in weeks. Survivors searched charred buses and cars for signs of relatives, the Associated Press reported.

An Iraqi police officer inspects wreckage from two massive car bombs that exploded at a main bus station, Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2005 , in Baghdad, Iraq. Two car bombs driven by suicide attackers exploded Wednesday morning at the al-Nahda bus station in central Baghdad killing over 35 and injuring over 50. [AP]

The violence came as Iraq's leaders resumed negotiations on a draft of a new constitution, a charter they hope will bring stability and help end the insurgency. The document was to be finished Monday, but the deadline was extended one week.

A suicide car bomber targeting policemen detonated his vehicle outside the Nahda bus station in central Baghdad, one of the city's major transit points, the U.S. military said.

A second car exploded in the open-air station's parking lot near buses that carry passengers to Amarah and Basra, Shiite-dominated cities in southern Iraq, police Capt. Nabil Abdul-Qader said.

A second suicide bomber exploded his vehicle near the Kindi Hospital about 30 minutes later as many of the wounded were arriving for treatment, police said. It was unclear if the hospital was targeted in the blast.

Abdul-Qader said 43 people died and 85 were wounded in the attacks.

It was the deadliest series of single-day suicide bombings in Baghdad in weeks, although suicide attacks with far lower death tolls occur here regularly.

Twenty-five people died in a suicide blast July 10 at an army recruiting center in Baghdad. On July 13 a car bomb in Baghdad killed 27 people, 18 of them teenagers or children and one American soldier.

Also, two U.S. soldiers were killed, the military said Wednesday. One was killed Tuesday when a roadside bomb exploded near his patrol in southwest Baghdad and another was killed in an insurgent attack in northern Iraq.

The latest attacks occurred shortly before Iraqi leaders started a meeting Wednesday to try to finish the new constitution. A Shiite negotiator, Khalid al-Attiyah, said talks were going so well that the document might be ready for parliament Wednesday.

The blasts left several mutilated bodies strewn across the station parking lot and a large plume of black smoke visible throughout the capital as many traveled to work in the morning. Over a dozen cars and at least two buses were destroyed, leaving only rows of seat frames inside a bare metal hull.

Several weeping men hugged beside a young boy inside the open-air terminal. One man searched through the charred buses for signs of his brother and cousin who were both at the station in the morning.

Elsewhere, six new Iraqi soldier recruits were killed execution-style after gunmen stopped their minibus near Hawija, 30 miles southwest of Kirkuk, Iraqi Army Brig. Gen. Anwar Mohammed Amin said. The killed Iraqis were traveling to a training camp in Kirkuk.

One of the stumbling blocks in the constitution debate was Kurdish demands for self-determination, which would give them the right to secede.

On Tuesday, Kurdish leaders said they had no plans to break away from Iraq even through they wanted the right enshrined in the constitution.

"There are rumors that the Kurds want to secede, but they are for unity," President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, told reporters Tuesday. He said he expected the constitution to be finished before the deadline.

Other Kurds defended their self-determination demand, although they insisted they have no plans to secede.

Iraqi leaders expressed confidence on Tuesday that they would overcome differences over remaining issues by the new deadline. If no agreement can be reached this time, the interim constitution requires that parliament be dissolved.

Different groups gave conflicting information on what had been resolved and what stood in the way of a deal.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, said the unresolved issues were federalism, the election law and the formula for distributing revenue from oil and other natural resources. Kurdish leaders said they objected to a proposal to grant special legal status to the Shiite clerical hierarchy in Najaf.

Sunni Arab negotiator Mohammed Abed-Rabbou said "the most important point is federalism," underscoring Sunni concerns that a constitution that grants regional autonomy could eventually divide the country.

Al-Jaafari said disagreements were largely over details and he expressed confidence that Iraq's constitution could be finished within a week.

"I hope that we will not need another extension. The pending points do not need too much time and God willing we will finish it on time," he said Tuesday.

The delay was an embarrassment for the Bush administration, which insisted that the original deadline be met to maintain political momentum and blunt Iraq's deadly insurgency.

If agreement on a constitution is reached, Iraqis will vote around Oct. 15 to accept or reject the charter, leading to more elections in December for the country's first fully constitutional government since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.

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