2007年VOA标准英语-Baghdad Bombings Kill 40, Westerners Reported K

Two car bombs in the Iraqi capital have killed at least 40 people and wounded more than 100 others. The U.S. military also reported 10 American soldiers were killed Monday in bomb attacks and a helicopter crash. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from Irbil that three Westerners were also reported kidnapped in Baghdad.

Iraqi women react at the entrance of a hospital in Sadr city, Baghdad, 29 May 2007

The first blast in Baghdad targeted Tayaran Square in the city's downtown, when a minibus carrying explosives detonated on a busy street, setting fire to cars and damaging nearby buildings.

The Associated Press reported that police tried to confiscate¹ the cameras of reporters who were photographing the aftermath.

Earlier this month, the Iraqi parliament passed a law prohibiting media coverage² of blast sites. Lawmakers had said that the media sensationalized and inaccurately³ reported on the attacks by using graphic⁴ blast scene footage.

About one hour after the first blast, a second truck bomb targeted a Shi'ite mosque⁵ in the city's southwest al-Amil neighborhood. One witnesses described the scene.

He says he saw a truck driving by him and heading toward a mosque. When he saw it, he shouted "a car bomb, a car bomb" as pedestrians⁶ scattered⁷.

In central Baghdad, in an office near the Finance Ministry⁸, witnesses said a group of gunmen kidnapped at least three Westerners who were working at the office. The identity and the number of foreigners abducted⁹ are unclear, but there are reports they may have been German or British.

The month of May, with 112 American troops killed, is the deadliest for U.S. forces since December, when the same number died. Since the 2003 invasion, nearly 3,500 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.