30 killed in Iraq car bomb blasts

Car bombs killed 30 people in Iraq on Sunday and wounded more than 70 in one of the bloodiest spasms of violence of recent weeks as political leaders closed in on a deal to form a national unity government. The southern city of Basra was largely calm as British military engineers examined the wreck of a helicopter whose apparent shooting down was followed by clashes between troops and youths chanting triumphal Shia militia slogans. Twenty-one people were killed and 52 wounded when a car bomb went off close to the main central bus station in the Shia holy city of Kerbala, 110 km south of Baghdad, police said. Around the same time, two cars exploded in the capital. A suicide car bomber hit an Iraqi army patrol in the mainly Sunni northern district of Aadhamiya, killing eight people and wounding 15. Soldiers and civilians were among the casualties. Iraqi and US forces conducted a sweep for rebels in Aadhamiya on Saturday, the US military said. The area is a stronghold of Sunni insurgents. A second car bomb exploded at a busy traffic intersection in northern Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding five. The target was not clear. Interior ministry sources said 42 bodies had been found in the last 24 hours in the capital alone, including eight found dumped near Kindi hospital in central Baghdad. The figure is in line with levels of violence seen in recent months. Sectarian violence sparked by the February 22 bombing of a major Shia shrine in Samarra has led to the discoveries of bodies—many showing signs of torture—on a frequent basis. Sunni leaders blame pro-government Shia militias and the Shia-dominated police for some of the killing. Militia leaders speak of a need to respond to three years of violence by insurgents from the once dominant Sunni minority. Sectarian bloodshed has prompted warnings Iraq is sliding toward civil war and added urgency to efforts by political leaders to form a unity government that can reverse the trend. Nuri al-Maliki, the Shia Islamist nominated as prime minister two weeks ago after months of stalemate following a December election, says he expects to name a cabinet shortly. On Saturday, the Shia vice-president said he expected a deal "in the next few days". The US said last week that Sunni Islamist hardliners around Al-Qaida figurehead Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were stepping up violence around Baghdad to derail government formation.