Iraq car bomb targets foreigners

Five of the dead worked for the US power company General Electric, including two private security guards.

GE did not give their nationalities although the UK Foreign Office said two Britons were among the dead.

The bomb exploded as a convoy carrying contractors was passing through Tahrir Square, setting light to their 4X4 vehicles and destroying a building.

"It is an unfortunate and cowardly incident that happened today," said Iraq's interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi. "These people were helping Iraq rebuild its power generating stations."

US and Iraqi officials have warned of an increase in bloodshed in the country as it moves towards the handover of sovereignty on 30 June.

A Foreign Office spokesman did not reveal the names of the dead Britons but said next of kin were being informed.

There are conflicting reports of the foreign victims' nationalities although they are thought to include French and US citizens.

At least three other foreigners were severely injured, Mr Allawi said.

It is not clear how many Iraqis were hit by the blast. Frantic passers-by scooped up the wounded and loaded them into private cars to be taken to hospital.

Major Mohammed Saleh, the top policeman at the scene, told the AFP news agency: "A suicide car bomber in a small Volkswagen Brazilia drove between the cars and blew himself up."

But other witnesses said they thought a parked car was detonated by remote control.

BBC Middle East analyst Roger Hardy says the attack is a grim reminder of the challenges ahead following last week's passage of a new UN resolution on Iraq, heralded by some as the beginning of a more hopeful chapter for the country.

Trapped under rubble

The explosion destroyed a building and left a huge crater surrounded by burnt-out, mangled cars.

Capt Issam Ali at the nearby Neurological Hospital said many of the injured had serious burns and had lost limbs.

Anger at the explosion quickly turned to fury at the US, as crowds began hitting the burnt-out cars and shouting "God is Great" and "Down with the USA".

There were reports that the crowd poured fuel over one of the destroyed vehicles and set it on fire.

US troops beat one man with a stick, but the troops and Iraqi police withdrew when they failed to restrain the crowd, Associated Press reported.

The attack on electricity contractors comes as the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority is struggling to fulfil a pledge to bring Iraq's electricity generating capacity to 6,000 megawatts before the handover of sovereignty.

The CPA stopped issuing daily figures in May when the peak output was a little over 4,000 megawatts.

A second car bomb was reported near the town of Salman Pak south-east of Baghdad. Police quoted by AP said a car drove between police vehicles and exploded, killing four people and injuring four others.

The blasts come a day after a suicide car bomber killed at least seven Iraqis outside a US base in the city, the latest in a spate of such attacks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3804021.stm