Burned vehicles lie damaged outside the Foreign Ministry building after a bomb attack in Baghdad, August 19, 2009. [Agencies]

Attack Foiled

Baghdad's security spokesman Major General Qassim al-Moussawi said Iraqi forces had foiled another car bomb attack and had arrested two members of al Qaeda.

A truck bomb in Baghdad's Waziriya district near the Finance Ministry killed three people and wounded seven, and caused widespread destruction, police said. Part of a raised highway near the building collapsed, a Reuters witness said.

The Baghdad provincial government building came under mortar attack, police said.

In south Baghdad's Bayaa district, a blast killed two people and wounded five.

Mortars landed in the Salhiya district of central Baghdad, home to army bases and the offices of a national television station.