At least eight people were killed by a pair of car bombs that tore through shoppers in central Baghdad today, while a Slovak and Polish soldier were reported killed overnight by a roadside bomb south of the capital.
Police and a medical workers at al-Kindi Hospital said at least 38 others were injured in the explosion at Hafidh al-Qadhi square, a formerly bustling area along Rasheed Street on the eastern bank of the Tigris River.
The bombing was one of at least three deadly attacks today in the beleaguered capital, where US forces searching for a kidnapped American soldier offered a $50,000 for information leading to his recovery.
Slovakian defence ministry spokesman Vladimir Gemela said the two soldiers died when the military vehicle they were riding in was hit by a roadside bomb near Kut, a city 100 miles south-east of Baghdad where coalition troops have battled the fighters with the Mahdi Army militia loyal to radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Two other soldiers were injured in the attack.
The deaths marked the 18th among Polish troops and fourth among those from Slovakia, which has about 100 troops in Iraq operating jointly with the 900 Polish troops in the country.
Slovakia's prime minister, Robert Fico, has said his country will pull its troops out of Iraq in February.