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Iraq bus blast claims 30 lives

U.S. soldier killed in attack on convoy

BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber who jumped on a bus after security checks had been completed detonated an explosives belt among passengers heading to a Shia city on Thursday, killing up to 30 persons and wounding nearly 40, officials said.

Most of those killed were on the bus, which was gutted by flames, but several persons gathered around a nearby food stall were also killed, police said. A hospital official said at least 37 persons were injured.

Police said the attacker waited until the bus was slowly pulling away from the station, then jumped on board to avoid security checks. Police said the death toll was especially high because the blast triggered secondary explosions in gas cylinders stored at the food stall.

The blast occurred a week before national elections, and officials had warned of a surge in violence ahead of the balloting.

Several other explosions rumbled through the heart of the capital on Thursday morning, including one that struck an American convoy killing a U.S. soldier, the military said. The latest death raised the number of U.S. service members who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003 to at least 2,131, according to an Associated Press count.

U.K. appeal

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Thursday appealed again for communication from a previously unknown group holding four peace activists. ``If the kidnappers want to get in touch with us, we want to hear what they have to say,'' Mr. Straw said in a brief statement outside the Prime minister's Office. ``We have people in Iraq itself and in the region, and they are ready to hear from the kidnappers.'' The four members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams were seized two weeks ago by the previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigade. The four are among seven Westerners who have been abducted in Iraq since Nov. 25. The other hostages are an American, a German and a Frenchman.

AP

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