Twin suicide car bombs killed at least 15 people during the morning rush hour in central Baghdad today, cutting short what had appeared to be a lull in violence since elections in January.
Smoke rises above the scene of dual explosions near an Iraqi police headquarters
Two other bombs were found in the area and were detonated by controlled explosions that caused no casualties, said US Captain Jeff Dirske. Reporters at the scene had earlier said that a third bomb killed one person.
The blasts came a day after a series of explosions around the country that killed 15 people. Together they constitute one of the deadliest spates of guerrilla activity in six weeks.
The attacks would appear to mark a new surge in the violence that has been so common over the past two years in Iraq but which seemed to have subsided since the elections.
The suicide bombs detonated in quick succession near an Interior Ministry building on a crowded street, destroying 15 cars and scattering debris over a wide area, witnesses said.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq, a group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for two of the blasts in a statement posted on the Internet.
"Two lions from the martyrs' brigade ... launched themselves, one attacked an apostate police patrol guarding the office of the apostate minister while the second hit the rear end of a nine-car patrol," the statement said.
Followers of Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, have claimed responsibility for the most spectacular attacks in the country.
An Interior Ministry official said at least 15 people, including children, were killed and the death toll could rise. Officials at nearby hospitals reported more than 30 wounded.
Police officer Abbas Khudier was riding in a nine-car police convoy making its way through a traffic jam when the blasts went off. He said he thought the bombers had targeted his convoy.
"We were cutting through the traffic when a car in the middle of the street blew up," he said.
"We crossed over to the other side and another car followed. It tried to cross the median but flipped over and then blew up."
Casualties from the first blast were much worse because the bomb went off in the middle of blocked traffic, he said.