Triple car bombing kills 40 in southern Iraq

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Triple car bombing kills 40 in southern Iraq

By Aref Mohammed

AMARA, Iraq (Reuters) - Three car bombs ripped through a busy street in the Shi'ite city of Amara on Wednesday, killing 40 people and wounding 125 in one of the deadliest attacks in southern Iraq this year, police said.

The attacks came just days before Britain is to complete the handover of security for the four southern Iraqi provinces it has controlled since 2003, and tensions have been high among rival Shi'ite factions competing for influence.

The street was a scene of chaos, with cars torn apart. A blocked gutter along one street was red with stagnant blood washed from pools on the pavement next to a child's shoes.

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Outside the south, a separate car bomb in Baghdad killed five people and wounded 13, police said.

Southern Iraq has largely escaped the sectarian carnage that has plagued other parts of the country. Car bombings, often blamed on Sunni Islamist al Qaeda militants, usually happen in and around Baghdad or in provinces north of the capital.

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