SEVEN people were killed in a car bombing at a cafe near the Australian embassy in Baghdad today. At least 20 other people were wounded, a US officer at the scene of the blast said. It was not clear how many of the casualties were Iraqi police. Australian military spokesman Brigadier Peter Hutchinson said the bomb went off a few hundred metres from the Australian embassy and no troops in the security detachment were hurt. The blast shook the cafe frequented by the Iraqi police throwing metal, glass and body parts across the area. The car bomb was possibly a suicide attack, the US officer said. "Based on preliminary reports from locals on the scene, a vehicle arrived and detonated itself, so I'm assuming it was (a suicide attack)," he said. The US military was also concerned that there might be a second bomb, possibly hidden in a nearby rubbish dump.
Police officers appeared to be having a late evening meal at a local cafe during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan when the explosion went off. |