Car bomb kills 9 near Iraq Interior Ministry

Baghdad, Nov 15: A car bomb killed nine people and wounded 33 at a fuel station near Iraq's Interior Ministry in central Baghdad today, police and Interior Ministry sources said.

The car, rigged with explosives, was left in the busy petrol station in the Bab al-Sharji district. Fuel shortages and state control of distribution mean Baghdad's relatively few outlets are generally crowded with drivers waiting to fill their tanks.

The Interior Ministry has been a frequent target of guerrillas, notably Sunni Arab insurgents who accuse the ministry and police of being in league with Shi'ite militias.

Men in police uniform abducted dozens of men from a government building in central Baghdad yesterday, although the government later said most had been released. The numbers of those detained or still missing remains unclear.

Reuters