Bombs and ambushes kill dozens in Iraq

A bomb exploded outside a bank in the northern Iraq city of Kirkuk today, killing 19 people. Meanwhile five Iraqi soldiers died in a suicide attack north of Baghdad and the bodies of 24 men were found after falling victim to two ambushes in western Iraq.

A bomb exploded outside a bank in the northern Iraq city of Kirkuk today, killing 19 people. Meanwhile five Iraqi soldiers died in a suicide attack north of Baghdad and the bodies of 24 men were found after falling victim to two ambushes in western Iraq.

The spree of killings across the country comes as lawmakers wrangle over how big a say Sunni Arab Muslims should have drawing up the country's new constitution. The wrangling threatens to further alienate Sunni Arabs, who fell from power after their patron, Saddam Hussein, was ousted and detained. Sunni Arabs account for most of the insurgents wreaking havoc across Iraq.

New footage of a subdued-looking Saddam released by the Iraqi Special Tribunal on Monday showed the former dictator being quizzed by a judge - apparently on Sunday - about the killings of at least 50 Iraqis in a Shiite town.

Unlike Saddam's combative appearance at his arraignment on July 1, 2004 - the last time he was seen on video - the new tape reveals a man who appears a shadow of his former self.

Saddam's fall from power is seen as a contributing factor to the raging insurgency, which is being fanned by Sunni Muslim extremists and Saddam loyalists.

A bomb killed 19 people, including pensioners waiting for checks and child street vendors, outside the Rafidiyan Bank in downtown Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, said police Brig. Sarhad Qadir. He said another 81 people were injured.

The bomb exploded close to a walkover bridge crossing the road in front of the bank. Children and other vendors selling products from sugar to kitchen utensils on both the bridge and the road underneath were among those killed.

"I came here to get my wages and I brought my grandson with me who insisted on accompanying me," said Hussein Mohammed, a 70-year old retired employee of the Northern Oil Company, his head swathed in bandages. "The bomb exploded as we queued outside the bank and we were injured and rushed to hospital." The child survived.

The pavement outside the bank was strewn with rubble and glass from the building, while several bodies were seen lying underneath wreckage. At least two cars parked nearby were set ablaze.

Kirkuk is an ethnically mixed oil-rich city where insurgents have routinely launched deadly attacks apparently seeking to foment ethnic tension.

A suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing five soldiers and wounding two others in Kan'an, 45 kilometers (about 30 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraqi Army Col. Ismael Ibrahim said. Two civilians were also wounded.

The bodies of 24 men - some of which were beheaded - that had been killed in recent ambushes on convoys in western Iraq were brought to a Baghdad hospital, a hospital morgue official Tuesday.

Ali Chijan said two batches of bodies were brought to western Baghdad's Yarmouk Hospital late Monday.

Seventeen of the bodies believed to be all Iraqis were found near Khaldiyah, a town 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Baghdad, Chijan said.

Hospital official Dr. Mohammed Jawad said some of the bodies had been decapitated and the others had been shot in the head.

Jawad said the bodies might belong to men who have been missing since their convoy delivering supplies for the U.S. military was ambushed near Khaldiyah on Thursday.

Two of the bodies were identified as an Iraqi policeman and an interpreter, but it was not immediately clear which company they worked for.

Chijan said the badly decomposed bodies of another seven men, including one Iraqi and six believed to be "Asians," were brought to the hospital after being killed in a convoy ambush several days ago. Most had been shot in the face.

The slain Iraqi was identified as Ahmed Adnan, said his cousin, Hussein Ali, who was interviewed by The Associated Press at the hospital.

Ali said his cousin worked for a U.S.-owned company American-Iraqi Solution group.

Carter Andress, a senior vice president for the company, told the AP in Baghdad that one of the firm's cargo convoys had been ambushed on a highway Sunday west of the volatile Anbar province town of Ramadi.

"One of our cargo convoys was ambushed and we are investigating the incident now," Andress said without providing any further details.

The highway linking Baghdad to Jordan in the west cuts through the volatile Anbar province, a region notorious for kidnappings, ambushes and bombings.