BAGHDAD, Aug. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The death toll of three suicide car bomb blasts in central Baghdad early Wednesday rose to 43, police said.

Black smoke fills the sky following car bombings in central Baghdad. (AFP)

   "We have now a new total of casualties -- 43 people including policemen killed and 76 others wounded, in the three suicide bombings," Captain Ahmed Abdullah, an Interior Ministry official, told Xinhua.

   Early Wednesday morning, the first car bomb went off at about 7:50 a.m. (0350 GMT) inside a main Baghdad's bus station in al-Nahdha district, according to a police source.

   The second suicide car bomb blew up a few minutes later outside the bus station near al-Rashid police station in the same district, the source said.

   The third suicide car bomb detonated on the road leading to the nearby Kindi Hospital, the source said.

   The blasts damaged 20 vehicles, including three police cars.

   The latest wave of violence came after the parliament failed to complete the drafting of the constitution on schedule due to differences among political factions. Enditem

A father carries his two children from the Kindi hospital after treatment for wounds sustained in one of the three massive car bomb attacks Aug. 17 in Baghdad.

Hospital staff remove bodies entangled in fencing from a car bomb explosion in front of the Kindi hospital Aug. 17 in Baghdad.