Car bombs kill dozens in several Iraqi cities

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Insurgents detonated five car bombs Monday around Iraq, targeting police, a political figure and mosque worshippers, killing at least 42 people and wounding more than 130. Gunmen also assassinated a top national security official in the ongoing campaign against the government and military.

The military said Monday that five U.S. troops were killed by roadside bombs and a vehicle accident, and U.S. and Iraqi forces detained 300 suspected insurgents in the biggest sweep in the capital to date.

The deadliest bombings occurred near the home of a community leader outside the northern city of Mosul, killing at least 20 people and injuring another 20, Iraqi hospital and police officials said.

The explosions were in Tal Afar, about 50 miles west of Mosul, said Khesro Goran, Mosul's deputy governor. They may have targeted Hassan Baktash, a Shiite with close ties to the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Goran said. Goran also is a party member.

At least 20 people were killed, said Mosul's deputy police chief, Brig. Gen. Wathiq Mohammed, and the director of Tal Afar General Hospital, Saleh Qaddo Haider. At least 20 others were injured, Mohammed said.

Earlier, a car bomb exploded at a Baghdad restaurant popular with police, killing at least seven people and wounding at least 82.

South of Baghdad, a suicide car bomb blew up outside a Shiite mosque shortly before evening prayers, killing at least 10 people and injuring another 30, authorities said. The explosion occurred at 8 p.m. in front of the Abul-Fadl Abbas mosque in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, Lt. Odai al-Zayadi said.

Dawoud al-Tai, director of the Mahmoudiya general hospital, said 10 bodies and 30 wounded people were brought to his facility.

Iraqi soldier Alaa Abdul-Mohsen said the suicide bomber attempted to drive his explosives-packed car into the mosque, but a protective sand barrier kept him away. Instead, the car rammed into an adjacent house and detonated.

The car bomb in the busy Talibia neighborhood was detonated outside the Habayibna restaurant at a time when police officers usually meet there for lunch, said police Lt. Zaid Tarek.

"All these people were killed for no reason. What wrong did they do by being policemen or soldiers?" shaken restaurant owner Mshari Hassan said shortly after the blast.

Casualties were taken to three Baghdad hospitals. Al-Kindi hospital received three dead and 54 injured, according to its admission records.