Related story: Car bombs kill 11 people in central Baghdad

Sepcial Report:Tension accelerates in Iraq

    

An Iraqi police man checks the site of two car bomb attacks in Baghdad August 16, 2006. Two simultaneous car bombs killed at least 14 people and wounded 63 in Baghdad on Wednesday, police said. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

BAGHDAD, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The death toll rose to 14 in two nearly simultaneous car bombings in central Baghdad on Wednesday,an Iraqi Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

    Sixty-three people were wounded in the attacks.

    The blasts occurred at about 6:40 p.m. (1440 GMT) in al-Nafr square in central Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity.

    The Interior Ministry said earlier that the attacks killed 11 people and wounded 43.

    The source said that some people were seriously wounded, some cars caught fire and some buildings were destroyed in the attacks.

    Earlier in the day, a roadside bomb went off in eastern Baghdad,killing seven civilians and injuring 18.

    The attacks highlighted the worsening security situation inBaghdad, which has witnessed an upsurge of tit-for-tat violence between Shiites and Sunnis.

    Iraqi and U.S. forces have cordoned off the volatile neighborhood of Amariyah in northern Baghdad to carry out house-by-house searches. Enditem