July 06, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 20, 1428

BAGHDAD, July 5: A car bomb ripped through guests at a wedding party in southern Baghdad on Thursday, killing 17 people and wounding the bride and groom, security and defence officials said.

The blast erupted outside a photographer's studio in Abu Tchir, a mainly Shia district surrounded by restive Sunni suburbs and agricultural small holdings on the southern outskirts of the war-torn Iraqi capital.

More than two dozen people were injured, the officials said.

Local resident Ali Hussein, who rushed to the scene after the blast, said the wedding party had stopped at the Adel Photo Studio for pictures to be taken when a suicide car bomber collided with their convoy.

“I saw two minibuses completely burned out with bodies still inside them.

People said the bomber was being chased by security forces but his car exploded when it hit the wedding party,” he told AFP by telephone from the scene.

Several nearby shops and businesses, including the nearby Al-Baghdadi restaurant, were badly damaged in the blast, he said.

Some 24 bodies were found scattered throughout in Baghdad on Thursday, a security official said.—AFP