Baghdad Car Bombs Kill 9

Suicide bombers detonated two explosives-packed cars outside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone today, killing at least nine and wounding 23, officials said. The blasts marked the start of a violent day in the Iraqi capital, where another bombing and a jewelry heist left three more dead and 13 wounded. The cars blew up just outside a security checkpoint on a heavily traveled road leading into the Green Zone from Baghdad's international airport.

Pieces of charred flesh were still scattered at the scene hours later as a tow truck hauled away a wrecked Iraqi Humvee and other bombed-out cars. The bombers appeared to be targeting the motorcades of two senior government officials who were headed to work, said an official. A few miles away, two more roadside bombs exploded minutes later in an apparently unrelated strike; nine passers-by were wounded. By midmorning, two carloads of robbers stormed two jewelry shops, sparking a shootout with police; a shopkeeper, a customer, and one of the thieves were killed. (More Iraq stories.)