BAGHDAD, Nov. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- At least six Iraqis were killed and some 40 others injured by two car bombs blasted near an Interior Ministry building in Baghdad on Friday, witnesses said.

    The attack took place in southern Baghdad's Jadriyah district at the Hamra hotel housing foreign journalists and near the complex where US soldiers on Sunday discovered a number of Iraqi prisoners who had suffered abuse.

    The cars, which struck within two minutes of each other, attempted to breach concrete barriers near the hotel, said the witnesses.

    Earlier, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that "two car bombs went off successively near an Interior Ministry building in the al-Jadriyah Shelter, where the US troops discovered detainees allegedly tortured."

    "Initial police reports said that at least two people were killed and about 40 others wounded. They were civilians, security guards and employees from a nearby al-Hamra'a Hotel," said the source. Enditem