Bomb attack on security convoy kills 13 in Iraq
5/7/2005 12:15:00 PM GMT

Car bomb exploded at a busy intersection in central Baghdad on Saturday as a foreign security convoy drove past, killing at least nine Iraqis and four foreigners, all believed to be American, police and witnesses said.

Some 30 people were also injured in the blast.

The powerful blast in Tahrir Square damaged shops and set fire to several cars, said police Maj. Abbas Mohammed Salman.

But according to another police officer at the scene 17 people were killed and some appeared to be Westerners. But he spoke on condition of anonymity, and his information could not immediately be confirmed.

At least two of the sports utility vehicles in the foreign convoy were ablaze after the blast and police pulled charred bodies from the wreckage. One Western man staggered from the scene with blood pouring from his head.

Other witnesses said there were two large explosions, but it was not clear whether the second blast was a car bomb or the fuel tank of a vehicle exploding.

Foreign officials and security contractors move around Baghdad in high-profile convoys of four-wheel-drive sports utility vehicles accompanied by armed guards.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Darryl Wright said an unspecified number of American contract workers were among the dead and declined to provide more details.

Dr. Mustafa al-Ubosi, at nearby al-Kindi Hospital, said it had received four bodies and 29 wounded from the scene.

http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8450