Saturday, April 30 2005 10:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Baghdad: A string of car bombs killed at least 31 Iraqis and wounded more than 100 in the Baghdad region yesterday (Apr 29, 2005), one of the most violent days in months.

The bloody attacks came one day after Parliament voted in the new Cabinet of Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari. They were "a desperate attempt by the terrorists to discredit the newly formed Iraqi Government," the US military said.

The main onslaught came early and targeted Iraq's fledgling security forces, leaving 23 people dead and more than 90 wounded in at least 10 car bomb attacks in and around Baghdad.

Four bombs targeted Army and police patrols in the Sunni Arab insurgent stronghold of Adhamiyah and in the eastern district of Saligh.

Two were aimed at the Army and police near the South-eastern Baghdad district of Maysalun Square.

Three blasted police and Interior Ministry troops in Madain, a mixed Sunni-Shiite town, some 30 kilometres south of the capital.

One exploded without causing damage near a Baghdad Shiite mosque.

One more car bomb killed a policeman and wounded 15 people in Baquba, a town some 60 kilometres northeast of the capital.

Deadly explosions also struck the Kurdish northern city of Arbil, where a bomb disposal expert was killed, while attempting to defuse a bomb, and the southern Shiite city of Basra, where a border guard was killed.

In Balad, north of Baghdad, two civilians were killed by a roadside bomb. In Dujail, an Iraqi soldier was killed by another roadside explosion.

A series of mortar attacks on a joint US-Iraqi base north of Baghdad killed two Iraqi recruits and a translator, and wounded four people, an Iraqi officer said.

The main bombing wave began in Baghdad about 08:00 hrs (local time) (09:30 hrs IST).

Thirteen died and 50 were wounded in four apparently coordinated car bombings in two districts of the capital, an Interior Ministry official said.

Insurgents also fired mortar rounds into the area, adding to the chaos.

A photographer saw the remains of a hand, believed to belong to a suicide bomber, chained to the steering wheel of a burned out car.

In the second string of attacks, three car bombs blasted Madain, killing nine people and wounding 35, mostly civilians.

The town was swept by the Iraqi Army only 10 days ago as commandos hunted for insurgents.

Later in an eastern district of Baghdad, an Iraqi soldier was killed and three wounded by another car bomb attack around 10:30 hrs (local time) (12:00 hrs IST). Several policemen patrolling the area an hour later were hurt in yet another explosion.

In Baquba, a suicide driver killed one policeman and wounded 15, 11 of them police, security officials said. Also in Baquba, local preacher Sheikh Abdel Razzak killed himself in a grenade explosion, General Adel Mualan told agencies.

Three US soldiers were killed and two others wounded in two separate car bomb attacks on Friday, the US military said.

Two US soldiers were killed when a car bomb went off near Diyarah, in the deadly Anbar province west of Baghdad.

Another US soldier was killed in a separate attack when a car bomb went off north of Baghdad.