Multiple blasts kill 39, injure 188 across Iraq

At least 39 people have been killed and over a hundred others injured in simultaneous bomb explosions in several Iraqi cities and towns ahead of the next week's Arab League summit in the capital city of Baghdad. More than 180 people were wounded during separate explosions across the Iraqi cities, a report said. Tuesday's violence was rocking towns and cities spanning the northern oil-rich hub of Kirkuk and the Holy city of Karbala from 7:00 am (0400 GMT). In central Baghdad, a car bomb exploded in the parking lot opposite the foreign ministry in the capital. Six people were wounded in the blast. Tuesday's deadliest attacks occurred in Kirkuk and Karbala, where 26 people killed in total. In Kirkuk, a car bomb targeting a police office killed 13 people and wounded 50 others, according to police Major Salam Zangana. All of the fatalities were police, as were the vast majority of those hurt. The explosion, which was followed minutes later by a smaller car bomb, also badly damaged dozens of police cars. In Karbala, two roadside blasts at the entrance to the city killed 13 people and wounded 48, according to provincial health spokesman Jamal Mehdi. A car bomb in the central town of Hilla, also south of the capital, killed two people and wounded 31 others, provincial security committee chief Haidar al-Zambur said. The toll was confirmed by Ali Mohammed at Hilla hospital. And hours before the foreign ministry attack in Baghdad, a car bomb set off by a suicide attacker in the centre of the capital killed four people and wounded eight, security and medical officials said. Another car bomb in Ramadi, capital of western Anbar province, killed two people and wounded 11, according to police and medical officials. A roadside bomb blast later in the city targeting Anbar governor Qassim Mohammed Abed left two wounded, though Abed was unharmed. Separate gun and bomb attacks in Salaheddin province killed four people, including a city councillor, police said. Bombings in the main northern city of Mosul, the refinery town of Baiji, and the northern towns of Baquba, Daquq and Al-Dhuluiyah left 25 people wounded. Another car bomb in the northern city of Samarra left no casualties.