Car bombs killed 30 people in Iraq yesterday and wounded more than 70 in one of the bloodiest outbreaks of violence of recent weeks as political leaders closed in on a deal to form a national unity government.

At least 21 people were killed and 52 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated a car on a crowded street in the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad, police and doctors said. The effect was devastating.

Around the same time, two cars exploded in the capital.

A suicide car bomber hit an Iraqi army patrol in the rebellious, mainly Sunni northern district of Aadhamiya, killing eight people and wounding 15. Soldiers and civilians were among the casualties.

A second car bomb exploded at a busy intersection close to the offices of a government-funded newspaper in northern Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding five.

Interior Ministry sources said 42 bodies had been found in the last 24 hours in the capital alone, including eight dumped near Kindi hospital in central Baghdad. The figure is in line with the levels of violence seen after sectarian bloodshed was sparked when a Shi'ite shrine was bombed on February 22.

Sunni leaders blamed pro-government Shi'ite militias and the Shi'ite-dominated police for some of the sectarian killings. Militia leaders spoke of a need to respond to three years of violence by insurgents from the once-dominant Sunni minority.

Source: China Daily