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2 Bombs Explode In Baghdad, Killing 15

March 6, 2008 / 1:24 PM EST / CBS/AP

Two bombs went off within minutes of each other in a Baghdad commercial district Thursday evening, killing 15 people and wounding 35, police and officials at three hospitals said.

At least one of those killed died at the hospital, an official said.

A roadside bomb detonated in the primarily Shiite, middle-class neighborhood of Karradah - followed a couple of minutes later by a bomb in a nearby garbage can.

A police officer said the blasts also damaged seven shops and four parked cars. Like the rest of those who provided information, he spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release information.

Many of the victims were teens or young adults and four were women, police and hospital officials said.

In other developments:

A A parked car bomb killed at least 15 people and wounded 38 in central Baghdad on Monday as Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used his first visit to Iraq to slam America's role in the region.

The dead included one police officer, while another four were wounded. The Bab al-Mudham district is a commercial area on the eastern side of the Tigris River.

Ahmadinejad, the first Iranian president to visit Iraq, said the foreign presence in the Arab country was an "insult to the regional nations and a humiliation."

The U.S. military expressed regret over the killing of a teenager Friday by a helicopter gunship that thought it was firing on suspected roadside bombers planting a device, the military said. It added that residents later told troops that a group of boys had been digging up roots for firewood.

Thirteen gunmen were killed Sunday and eight were injured in clashes with American and Iraqi forces in the town of Tal Afar - on the road from Syria to Mosul. Tal Afar Mayor Maj. Gen. Najim Abdullah said that two police officers were also killed and four were injured. In two other separate attacks in Diyala, police reported that five people were killed when a roadside bomb hit a bus, while another assault killed a patrolling police officer.

A U.S. military helicopter fired a guided missile to kill a wanted al Qaeda in Iraq leader from Saudi Arabia who was responsible for the bombing deaths of five American soldiers, a spokesman said. Navy Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said Jar Allah, also known as Abu Yasir al-Saudi, and another Saudi known only as Hamdan, were both killed Wednesday in Mosul. According to the military, al-Saudi conducted numerous attacks against Iraqi and U.S. forces, including a Jan. 28 bomb attack that killed the five U.S. soldiers.

The day before the Iranian president arrived, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, came to Baghdad unannounced to visit with commanders and Iraqi officials.

On Saturday, Mr. Bush advised al-Maliki to tell the Iranian leader to "quit sending in sophisticated equipment that's killing our citizens."

Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a military spokesman, reiterated Sunday that the U.S. hopes the Iranian-Iraqi meetings produce "real and tangible results," which in the American view would include Iran ending its alleged training and funding of extremists.

The tone among Ahmadinejad and his Iraqi hosts, meanwhile, was more than cordial.

"We had very good talks that were friendly and brotherly," Ahmadinejad said after meeting with Talabani, who greeted him with an honor guard and a band that played both countries' national anthems. "We have mutual understandings and views in all fields, and both sides plan to improve relations as much as possible."

After a meeting involving Ahmadinejad, al-Maliki and their advisers, the Iraqi prime minister said the visit was "an expression of the strong desire of enhancing relations and developing mutual interests after the past tension during the dictatorship era."

While both countries have a Shiite majority, their relationship has been checkered.

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