18 July 2004	Sunday	29 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

BAGHDAD, July 17: Six people were killed and 36 wounded in two suicide car bombings in Iraq on Saturday, one targeting a government minister and purportedly claimed by the Al Qaeda-linked militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.

Justice Minister Malek Dohan, 83, emerged unscathed from the attack on his convoy but three of his guards, including a nephew, were killed along with two civilians.

Eight people were also wounded in the blast which hit Dohan's motorcade as it was taking him to work from his home in the west of the capital.

A driver in a car approached the minister's convoy and blew himself up, killing three people in another vehicle which was part of the convoy and two civilians in a BMW behind it, said interior ministry spokesman Col Adnan Abdul Rahman.

Ambulances were seen rushing to the scene, where fires raged from the burning vehicles, as casualties were taken to the nearby Eskan Hospital.

Three policemen were wounded less than an hour later in a second blast close by.

A seasoned lawyer and politician, Hassan assumed a high profile earlier this month with the unveiling of a new national security law giving the government emergency powers in its battle against the 15-month-old insurgency.

He is also one of the key players in the process of trying Saddam Hussein and 11 of his lieutenants, after their first appearance in the dock on July 1.

Zarqawi's Tawhid wa al-Jihad group claimed the attack in a message posted on an Islamist website, although its authenticity could not be verified.

In another blow to Iraq's nascent security forces, a car bomb exploded outside a National Guard base in the restive town of Mahmudiya, 30 kilometres south of Baghdad.

An Iraqi civilian was killed and 25 people wounded, hospital and interior ministry source said.

"A vehicle sped towards the entrance of the building and when its driver failed to stop as instructed, he was fired on and the car exploded about 25 metres from the entrance," said guardsman Adel Taha.

The interior ministry confirmed the attack was a suicide bombing.

A number of volunteers were queuing to enlist at the time of the blast, said another guardsman, Ahmed Hamza.

The new violence came on the anniversary of the 1968 coup which brought Saddam's Baath party to power and followed a rash of deadly car bombs earlier this week.

US SOLDIER KILLED: Guerillas killed a US soldier and wounded another in a roadside bomb blast in northern Iraq on Saturday, the US army said.

In a statement, the army said the attack was near Baiji, 180 km north of Baghdad, at 7am (0800am PST) on Saturday morning.-AFP/Reuters