<p> Elsewhere, two Iraqi soldiers were killed and 10 others wounded when a bomb attached to a military bus exploded at an army base in Habaniya, around 85 km west of Baghdad, Saad and army sources said. Bombings and killings occur on a daily basis in Iraq more than eight years after the US-led invasion although violence has dropped from the peak of sectarian fighting in 2006-07.<br /><br />The first incident occurred outside the Ehsan tourist restaurant, a popular rest-stop by a main highway for people traveling through al-Hamza, located just south of Hilla, 100 km south of Baghdad.<br /><br />“I was in the kitchen when suddenly I heard a blast. I heard loud screams, and the sound of people running. I left the kitchen and went outside to see people covered in blood, lying on the ground,” said Tahsin Mahmoud, a worker in the restaurant’s kitchen. “It took a long time for Iraqi security forces to reach the scene.”<br /><br />The front of the restaurant was destroyed, with shattered glass on the floor and blood stains covering food, chairs and tables inside the place.<br /><br />Deputy Health Minister Khamis al-Saad put the toll at eight killed and 36 wounded. An army source reporting the bombing in Habaniya said: “The soldiers finished their academic training and a bus took them to have breakfast at the restaurant in the base. When the bus reached the restaurant it exploded.”<br /><br />Army sources had initially said 15 soldiers had been killed and 20 others wounded, but said later that the toll was less.<br /><br />“The first report we received said it was a bomb attached to a bus transporting soldiers. There were around 40 soldiers on board the coach. They said 15 killed, 20 wounded,” an army source at the operations center in Anbar province said. <br /><br />“We received other reports after this with a higher toll. But when we checked with the Habaniya military hospital, they said we only received two dead and 10 wounded,” sources said.<br /><br />Strangely, no group has taken responsibility for the attacks.</p>
<p> Elsewhere, two Iraqi soldiers were killed and 10 others wounded when a bomb attached to a military bus exploded at an army base in Habaniya, around 85 km west of Baghdad, Saad and army sources said. Bombings and killings occur on a daily basis in Iraq more than eight years after the US-led invasion although violence has dropped from the peak of sectarian fighting in 2006-07.<br /><br />The first incident occurred outside the Ehsan tourist restaurant, a popular rest-stop by a main highway for people traveling through al-Hamza, located just south of Hilla, 100 km south of Baghdad.<br /><br />“I was in the kitchen when suddenly I heard a blast. I heard loud screams, and the sound of people running. I left the kitchen and went outside to see people covered in blood, lying on the ground,” said Tahsin Mahmoud, a worker in the restaurant’s kitchen. “It took a long time for Iraqi security forces to reach the scene.”<br /><br />The front of the restaurant was destroyed, with shattered glass on the floor and blood stains covering food, chairs and tables inside the place.<br /><br />Deputy Health Minister Khamis al-Saad put the toll at eight killed and 36 wounded. An army source reporting the bombing in Habaniya said: “The soldiers finished their academic training and a bus took them to have breakfast at the restaurant in the base. When the bus reached the restaurant it exploded.”<br /><br />Army sources had initially said 15 soldiers had been killed and 20 others wounded, but said later that the toll was less.<br /><br />“The first report we received said it was a bomb attached to a bus transporting soldiers. There were around 40 soldiers on board the coach. They said 15 killed, 20 wounded,” an army source at the operations center in Anbar province said. <br /><br />“We received other reports after this with a higher toll. But when we checked with the Habaniya military hospital, they said we only received two dead and 10 wounded,” sources said.<br /><br />Strangely, no group has taken responsibility for the attacks.</p>