BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) — A car bomb killed at least 35 people and wounded 64 on Tuesday when it ripped through a crowd outside a courthouse in the Iraqi city of Baquba, Iraqi officials said, updating an earlier toll.
"At least 35 people were killed, including one woman and a police officer, when a car bomb exploded outside the main courtroom in Baquba," said a police official who would not be named.
"At least 64 other people were wounded, among them women and children," he added.
Dr Ahmed Fuad at the local hospital in Baquba, 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of Baghdad, confirmed the toll.
"At least 35 people have been killed and most of them were charred to death," he told AFP.
Baquba, capital of the central province of Diyala, is one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq and was once a stronghold of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Since early January, US and Iraqi forces have been engaged in intensive operations against the jihadists throughout Diyala province.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
