by Jamal Hashim
BAGHDAD, March 20 (Xinhua) -- A spate of bomb attacks and gunfire swept Iraqi provinces killed at least 45 people and wounded over 200 others on Tuesday, just a few days ahead of the Arab League summit scheduled to be held in Baghdad late in the month.
One of the deadliest attacks occurred in the holy Shiite city of Karbala when two car bombs detonated almost simultaneously near a police station, killing 13 people and wounding 38 others.
Two other deadly attacks occurred in the city of Kirkuk, some 250 km north of Baghdad, when a suicide car bomber and a booby- trapped car struck a police headquarters, killing 13 policemen, and wounding 44 others and six civilians, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
A third car bomb ripped through an area located just south of Kirkuk, wounding 10 civilians, the source said.
In Baghdad, a suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden vehicle in the busy district of Alawi in the center of the capital, killing five civilians and wounding 28 others, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.
Also in the capital, a car bomb exploded at about 10:15 a.m. local time (0715 GMT) at a parking lot outside the Foreign Ministry, killing three people and wounding up to nine others, the source said.
The Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and said in a statement that the attack targeted a convoy for an Iraqi senior official without naming him, adding that there is no casualty among the employees and no damages in its fortified building.
"Such cowardly operations will not deter Iraq, its government and the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from giving a success to the Baghdad Arab summit," the ministry said.
In addition, gunmen attacked a church in Baghdad western district of Mansour and exchanged gunfire with policemen guarding the building, killing three of them before they fled the scene.
In a separate incident, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden car near a coffee shop in Hilla, some 100 km south of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding some 30 others, a local police source told Xinhua.
Separately, six people were wounded in another car bomb explosion in the town of Mahmoudiyah, some 30 km south of Baghdad, the source said.
Mahmoudiyah is part of the once restive area, dubbed Triangle of Death, which is a cluster of towns scattered between south of Baghdad and north of Hilla city, the capital of Babil province.
In Iraq's western Anbar province, Qassim al-Fahdawi, governor of the province, escaped unhurt a car bomb explosion near his convoy in the city of Ramadi, some 100 km west of Baghdad, a provincial police source said.
Four of Fahdawi's bodyguards were wounded by the blast.
In a separate incident, a soldier and a civilian were killed and 17 people were wounded when a roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol in Ramadi, the source said.
Also in the province, gunmen blew up bombs at the house of a policeman in the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, killing his wife and his son.
Elsewhere, two people were killed and 13 wounded in sporadic bomb and gunfire attacks in Salahudin province, north of Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua.
In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, seven people, including three policemen, were wounded in separate bomb attacks across the province, a source from the provincial operations command told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
A statement by Baghdad Operations Command, responsible for security in the capital, said that the security forces defused six more car bombs in and near Baghdad during the day and captured two terrorists in their booby-trapped cars.
Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi condemned Tuesday's attacks, saying "such heinous criminal attacks aimed at thwarting the aspirations of holding the national conference which we are looking forward to bring together the views of the political blocs and to foil the Arab Summit in Baghdad as well."
"They also want to keep Iraq under the violence and destruction, " Nujaifi said.
Observers here also see that the insurgents are seeking to show that the security situation can be easily deteriorated in the Iraqi cities as hundreds of dignitaries and journalists are expected to converge on Baghdad next week for the Arab summit.
The attacks came on the ninth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that toppled the former leader Saddam Hussein and just days before Baghdad Arab summit, as the Iraqi government confirmed it has completed its preparation for the summit and is ready to receive the Arab leaders on March 29.
Iraq sees the summit as a significant milestone in its history that would lead the country to play a powerful and positive role in the Arab world.
