43 dead, 88 hurt in three car bombs in Baghdad

Three car bombs killed at least 43 people and wounded 88 in a coordinated attack on a Baghdad bus station in this morning's rush…

Three car bombs killed at least 43 people and wounded 88 in a coordinated attack on a Baghdad bus station in this morning's rush hour, ending a lull in insurgent attacks as Iraqi leaders resumed talks on a new constitution.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern condemned this morning's attack and offered his condolences to the familes of those killed.

"It is impossible to remain indifferent to the relentless attacks against the Iraqi people, who are working towards the rebuilding of their country through finalising a constitution. I am appalled that insurgent groups continue to try to provoke chaos in the face of such positive developments," he said.

Ireland would, along with its EU partners, continue to support the Government of Iraq in taking up its very challenging responsibilities and in its efforts to combat such atrocities, he added.

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I am appalled that insurgent groups continue to try to provoke chaos in the face of such positive developmentsMinister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern

Police and medics were among the dead, struck by the third bomb between the bus station and the nearby Kindi hospital as victims of the earlier blasts were being taken there. At least three policemen were among the dead and 10 were wounded.

One witness said a bus about to depart for Iraq's second city of Basra, in the Shia south, had been incinerated by the blast and it appeared many passengers were killed.

The multiple explosions suggested an attack by one of the Islamist radical groups active in the Sunni Arab insurgency against the US-backed, Shia-led government - although unlike many bombings by groups like al Qaeda, police said they did not think any of the cars was driven by a suicide attacker.

If not, then it would have been an elaborately laid trap to place and time a car bomb to go off just at the point where rescue services were moving casualties toward medical aid.

The US military said in a statement one bomb - it was not clear which in the sequence - had been detonated by its driver.

Later, police said it seemed all the bombs were in empty cars. It was the first attack on this scale in Baghdad for nearly a month and came hours before political leaders were to resume efforts to resolve deadlock on a new constitution, following their failure to produce a draft by Monday's midnight deadline.

Parliament gave leaders of rival sectarian and ethnic groups a further week to settle their differences. Divisions over the extent to which regions should have autonomy and control over oil and other resources remain at the heart of the dispute, negotiators said.

Bahaa al-Araji, a leading lawmaker from the Shia majority on parliament's constitution drafting committee, said talks were getting under way again in late morning.

Only brief informal contacts had taken place yesterday. Saleh al-Mutlak, a negotiator from the Sunni minority that dominated under Saddam Hussein, said his group was still opposing provisions that might give Islamist Shia control over the southern oilfields and allow Kurds to expand their region's boundaries to annexe the oil resources of the north.

Additional reporting Reuters