Sepcial Report:Tension accelerates in Iraq

A man is looking at the destroyed car in Baghdad August 30, 2006. A bomb exploded in a central Baghdad market killing 24 people and wounding 45, police and Interior Ministry sources said. The Shorja wholesale market in Bab al-Sharji district is often very crowded and has been targeted before.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- A string of bombings killed over 40 people, and wounded more than 100 others in Iraq on Wednesday morning, according to media reports.

    Bombing attacks targeted a market, an army recruiting center and a police patrol respectively.

    In central Baghdad, at least 24 Iraqis were killed and 45 more were wounded in the attack on the Shorja wholesale market, police said.

    An hour later, a car bomb exploded near a busy fuel station in the nearby Karrada district, Baghdad, killing two and wounding 21 others, including five police officers, emergency officials said.

    Another bomb in the same area near Andalus Square detonated minutes later as rescue workers arrived to assist the wounded.

    Meanwhile, at least 12 people were killed and 38 wounded in a further bombing in Hilla, in Babil province about 97 kilometers south of Baghdad, when an explosives-rigged bicycle exploded outside an Iraqi army recruitment center, police said.

    Another two bombings occurred in the Diyala provincial town of Muqdadiya, north of Baquba, and Buhriz, another Diyala town south of Baquba. At least nine people died in separate roadside bombs, a police official said.

    Insurgents have frequently targeted Iraqi army and police volunteers when they line up outside recruiting stations, it is seen as a way to discourage Iraqis from joining the security services and keep the military and police weak. Enditem

    (Agencies)