BAGHDAD: Suicide bombers detonated two explosives-packed cars Monday outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, killing at least nine people and wounding 23, officials said. The blasts marked the start of a violent day in the Iraqi capital, where two more bombings and a jewelry heist left three more dead and 15 wounded. The twin suicide car bombs rattled windows across Baghdad shortly after 8 A.M. The cars blew up just outside a security checkpoint on a heavily traveled road leading into the Green Zone from Baghdad's international airport. Pieces of charred flesh were still scattered at the scene hours later as a tow truck hauled away a wrecked Iraqi Humvee and other bombed-out cars. Baghdad military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim Al-Moussawi said the bombers appeared to be targeting the motorcades of two senior government officials – one from the military, the other from the Cabinet – who were headed to work. He declined to elaborate. The explosion set ablaze some of the cars that were waiting to be cleared into the Green Zone, which houses Iraq's parliament and ministry offices, as well as several foreign embassies. Two police officers and an official at Al-Yarmouk hospital said nine people, including five Iraqi soldiers, were killed and 23 people were wounded in the attack. Al-Moussawi put the number of dead at six, with 14 wounded, but added that “this is not a final death toll.” Conflicting casualty numbers are common in the immediate aftermath of attacks. Parliament Speaker Osama Al-Nujaifi said one parliamentary worker was killed and four more were wounded. A statement on the parliament website said that Al-Nujaifi adviser Amjad Abdul-Hamid was the target of the dual bombings.
