At Least 45 Die in Iraq Violence

BAGHDAD â€”  As Iraqi politicians continued to bicker over who should lead key security ministries, violence claimed the lives of at least 45 Iraqis around the country Tuesday.

In the worst incident, a car bomb exploded at a popular market in Husseiniya, about 20 miles north of Baghdad, killing 24 people and injuring 64, hospital officials said.

In Hillah, about 60 miles south of the capital, a car bomb killed seven civilians and wounded 30, police said. Earlier in the day in Baghdad, mortar rounds hit the Interior Ministry building, killing two employees and injuring four police officers.

A witness who was inside the ministry during the attack said the building “trembled violently� when it was struck. Guards evacuated panicked employees as smoke billowed from the third floor, he said.

Elsewhere in the capital, a bomb exploded near a bakery in the eastern part of the city, killing nine civilians and injuring 10.

Earlier in the day, a roadside bomb killed one security officer and wounded three. In the Shula neighborhood of Baghdad, gunmen entered a Sunni Muslim mosque, killing a sheik. In the southern city of Basra, gunmen killed a motorist and injured his son.

Authorities also recovered three bodies from three different neighborhoods. All had been handcuffed and blindfolded and showed signs of torture.

Iraqi security forces raided a dormitory on the campus of Baghdad Technical University. Cells of students were building roadside bombs and planning attacks against Iraqi soldiers and police, the U.S. military said in a statement. The Iraqi forces also raided an apartment building near campus. A total of seven people were detained, including four students.

According to a statement from Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s office, Iraqi security forces on Monday captured Ahmad Hussein Dabash Samir Batawi in Baghdad. Batawi, a suspected insurgent leader, confessed to beheading hundreds of Iraqis, the statement said.

In the northern city of Mosul, a U.S. soldier from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team was shot and killed Monday, the U.S. military said. A soldier with Multinational Division Baghdad was killed Tuesday when an improvised explosive device detonated southeast of the capital.

The U.S. military also announced the release of 204 male detainees Tuesday after a review by Iraqi and American officials. Since its establishment in August 2004, the Combined Review and Release Board has recommended releasing 19,600 detainees after reviewing more than 39,000 cases.

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Times staff writer Saif Hameed contributed to this report.