BAGHDAD, May 10: Two suicide car bombs exploded in central Baghdad on Tuesday, killing seven Iraqis, as a 1,000-strong US force backed by aircraft struck at guerillas in the northwest of the country. Iraq’s foreign hostage crisis deepened with the disappearance of a Japanese security contractor following a firefight, while the fate of an Australian held hostage remained unknown after the kidnappers’ deadline passed.

Seven Iraqis — among them children — were killed and 23 wounded when a suicide car bomb blew up near a US patrol in central Baghdad. The US military said three of its men were wounded in the Attack, which also set civilian vehicles ablaze.

The attack, a short distance from the site of another bomb attack that left 18 dead on Saturday, sent plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky. Three policemen were wounded when another suicide car bomb targeted a Tigris river patrol headquarters in the centre of the capital, leading Iraqi police to hurl insults at US soldiers nearby.—AFP