42 killed in latest blasts in Baghdad; embassies targeted

The bombings came two days after a chilling execution-style attack by gunmen who raided homes south of Baghdad, killing 24 people, many of them believed to be anti-Al-Qaeda fighters.

The rise in bloodshed after a relative lull deepened fears that insurgents are seizing on the political uncertainty after last month's close parliamentary elections to sow further instability.

"The terrorists seized this time between the end of the elections and the forming of the government to target the political process," said Civil Defense official Abdul-Rasoul Al-Zaidi.

Sunday's blasts went off within minutes of each other - one near the Iranian Embassy and two others in an area that houses several embassies, including the Egyptian Consulate, and the German and Spanish Embassies, said Maj. Gen. Qassim Al-Moussawi, a spokesman for the city's Operations Command Center.

"These explosions targeted diplomatic missions," Al-Moussawi said, adding the death toll was likely to rise. "It's a terrorist act."

The force of the blasts shook buildings and rattled windows miles away. AP Television News footage showed civilians outside the Iranian Embassy loading casualties onto police vehicles and ambulances. Stunned victims in bloody clothes fled the scene as smoke rose.

One man was cradling a small girl wearing a white dress in his arms. Hassan Karim, 32, who owns a clothing shop near one of the bombing sites, said the first blast shattered windows and knocked all the shelves off the walls. He ran outside after the second explosion just minutes later. "I saw children screaming while their mothers held their hands or clutched them to their chest," he said. "Cars were crashing into each other in streets, trying to find a way to flee."

Among the dead were the Egyptian mission's Iraqi head of security and an Iraqi guard at the German Embassy; Kazinform refers cites the Arab News.

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