At least 25 people have been killed and 50 injured in a series of attacks near the government and diplomatic "Green Zone' in the centre of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, the police said.

• Witnesses said that the first suspected bomb blast on Wednesday went off near the foreign ministry and minutes later the second took place near the finance ministry.
• Two mortars also landed inside the heavily-protected area, while a third landed outside.
• Officials told The Associated Press news agency that one of the explosions was caused by a car bomb parked near a joint Iraqi police and army patrol.
• Television footage showed that the force of the explosions had blown out some of the windows of Iraq's parliamentary building.
• The area, the site of government ministries and foreign embassies, has frequently been targeted with rocket and mortar fire.
• Mortars also reportedly landed in the Salhiya district of central Baghdad, home to army bases and the offices of a national television station.
• Despite a reduction in violence in recent months, attacks on security forces and civilians remain common in Baghdad and the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk.
• The number of violent deaths fell by a third last month to 275 from 437 in June, following the pullout of US combat forces from urban areas at the end of the month.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

The effort to do justice for those wrongly held to begin with, some for years, also runs the risk of releasing extremists who could be a threat to fragile Iraqi security.
As part of an agreement between the two countries that took effect Jan. 1, Iraqi authorities have begun reviewing the cases of the detainees to decide whether to free them or press charges. About 13,300 remain behind barbed wire in U.S. custody in Iraq.
Courtesy: abc News

A suicide bomber struck Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders and high-ranking security officials touring a market after a reconciliation meeting west of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 33 people in the second major attack in the capital area in two days.
Despite the ongoing violence, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said he does not believe the Iraqi government will ask Americans to remain in the country past a 2011 deadline set by a security agreement between the two countries. The bombing which left clusters of bodies near the shabby market stalls lining a road was part of a spike of violence that comes as the U.S. military begins to draw down its forces.
The bomber detonated an explosives belt as the tribal leaders were walking through the market in the town of Abu Ghraib, accompanied by security officials and journalists, according to the Iraqi military.
Two Iraqi television journalists from the privately owned Baghdadiya station were among those killed in the attack. Four staffers of the state television network were also wounded, one seriously, their station said.
Courtesy: ABC News..more..