Car bombs kill 33 ahead of Iraq polls
Three co-ordinated attacks in Iraqi city of Baquba just days before parliamentary elections.
BAQUBA, Iraq - Three powerful co-ordinated attacks in the central Iraq city of Baquba killed at least 33 people and wounded 55 on Wednesday, just days before nationwide parliamentary elections.
The blasts, the deadliest to hit the country in nearly a month, spurred police to clamp an immediate curfew on the city, 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Baghdad and one of Iraq's biggest.
The attacks came despite heightened security across the country ahead of Sunday's vote.
Two near-simultaneous suicide vehicle bombs ripped through the provincial housing department's offices and a nearby traffic intersection at around 9:30 am (0630 GMT), while a man later blew himself up at Baquba's main hospital where victims were being treated.
"The three bombings killed 33 people," a security official from Baquba operations command said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"The (third) suicide bomber tried to blow himself up against the police chief when he came to see the wounded in the hospital."
Police chief Major General Abdul Hussein al-Shimmari escaped unharmed but members of his personal security team, including police Colonel Nabil Ibrahim, were wounded. Diyala provincial health chief Dr. Ali al-Timimi was also injured.
The first vehicle crashed through the entrance to the provincial housing department's compound, which sits next to a police station, before exploding.
Moments later at a nearby traffic intersection, a suicide bomber triggered the explosives packed into his vehicle, creating a powerful blast. The hospital bombing occurred a short time later.
US and Iraqi security forces have cordoned off the hospital, a journalist at the scene said.
Wednesday's attack was the deadliest to hit the country since February 5, when 41 Shiite pilgrims were killed on the last day of a religious mourning ceremony on the outskirts of the holy city of Karbala.
Baquba, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Baghdad and capital of Diyala province, was a hotbed of Sunni insurgents in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion.
Iraqis go to the polls on Sunday 7 in legislative elections, the second such vote since 2003.
A total of 352 Iraqis were killed as a result of violence in Iraq in February -- 211 civilians, 96 police and 45 soldiers -- which was nearly double the toll from the previous month.