Baghdad: Triple attack on hotels kills least 38

At least 38 people were killed and 74 injured when three car bombs ripped through hotels in the centre of the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday, medics told the German Press Agency dpa.

The first blast hit the Ishtar Sheraton hotel, while the second hit the Palestine Meridien hotel and the third hit the Babil Oberoi hotel, all in the central neighbourhood of al-Karradah, police announced on state Iraqi television.

All three hotels are heavily guarded and often house visiting businessmen and foreign journalists.

Large plumes of smoke could be seen rising above the city and sirens wailed as emergency workers flocked to the scene, witnesses told dpa.

‘The blasts were so powerful, the house started to shake,’ said Lubna Naji, a student who lives nearby.

The city has been on edge for weeks. Iraqi security forces two weeks ago discovered hundreds of kilos of explosives and arrested 25 people in a massive search that wreaked havoc on the morning commute in Baghdad.

In an unrelated attack, two policemen were killed in the disputed northern city of Kirkuk on Monday, police said.

The two were shot on their way to work in the Hay al-Wasti district shortly before dawn, police said, adding they believed the gunmen had used silencers.

Source: m & c news