Iraqi police said a car bomb that exploded Tuesday in Baqouba killed at least 40 people and wounded dozens of others. According to the AP, a police officer said the explosives-laden car was parked near a restaurant across the street from the courthouse and provincial government offices in the city center. It exploded just before noon, when the area is crowded with people visiting government offices and eating lunch at the restaurant.

A surge of violence killed 28 people on Monday, among them 12 members of the Kurdish peshmerga forces who died in a bomb blast near the Syrian border. In addition, two American troops were killed by roadside bombs in separate incidents in Iraq on Monday, the American military said.

One soldier died of wounds sustained when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb while on combat patrol in northeastern Baghdad around 4:45 pm Monday, a US military statement said. The military earlier in the day announced the death of another soldier, also by a roadside bomb, in the central province of Salaheddin.

© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)