Bombs kill over 60 in Iraq

More than 60 people were killed in a series of car bomb explosions across Iraq on Monday, police and medics said.

The attacks brought the number killed in the past week to over 200.

No group claimed responsibility for the bombings.

Nine people were killed in one of two car bomb explosions in Basra, a city 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police and medics said.

 "I was on duty when a powerful blast shook the ground," said a police officer near the site of that attack in the Hayaniya neighbourhood.

 "The blast hit a group of day labourers gathering near a sandwich kiosk," he added, describing corpses littering the ground. "One of the dead bodies was still grabbing a blood-soaked sandwich in his hand."

Five other people were killed in a second blast inside a bus terminal in Saad Square, also in Basra, police and medics said.

 In Baghdad, at least 30 people were killed in car bomb explosions in Kamaliya, Ilaam, Diyala Bridge, al-Shurta, Shula, Zaafaraniya and Sadr City.

A parked car bomb also exploded in the district of Shaab in northern Baghdad, killing 12 people and wounding 26 others, police and hospital sources said.

In a separate incident, police said a parked car blew up near a bus carrying pilgrims from Iran near Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, killing five Iranian pilgrims and two Iraqis who were traveling to the Shi'ite holy city of Samarra.

In the western province of Anbar, the bodies of 14 people kidnapped on Saturday, including six policemen, were found dumped in the desert with bullet wounds to the head and chest, police and security sources said.

Three Sahwa members were killed in a car bomb explosion as they collected their salaries in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, police said.

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