WORLD NEWS

BAGHDAD: At least 36 people were killed and 71 wounded in three massive car bombings that targeted hotels in Baghdad on Monday in an apparently co-ordinated attack less than six weeks from a general election.

The first bomb struck near the Palestine and Sheraton hotels in Abu Nawaz, close to where a giant statue of Saddam was symbolically toppled almost seven years ago, at around 3:30 pm (1230 GMT), an interior ministry official said.

The second and third blasts just minutes later targeted the Babylon Hotel in the central district of Karrada and the Hamra hotel in Jadriyah, in the south of the capital, he added.

Iraqi military spokesman in Baghdad Major General Qassim Atta said all three car bombs were suicide attacks.

An interior ministry official told a foreign news agency that 36 people had been killed and 71 were wounded.

The first explosion which shook ground miles away from the site of the blast sent plumes of smoke rising hundreds of metres (yards) into the air.