A suicide car bomber killed 30 people and wounded at least 50 others in a massive blast south of the Iraqi capital on Monday, police said. Witnesses said the attack occurred in Hilla, about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad, where a suicide car bomber drove into a crowd of people applying for work at a government office. A police colonel in Hilla, Col. Ali Iskandir, put the toll at 30 dead and 50 wounded. A senior Interior Ministry official, speaking earlier on condition of anonymity, said the blast killed 25 people and wounded 71 others. Dozens of bodies could be seen laying on the ground after the blast, and half a dozen ambulances raced to the scene, ferrying casualties to a nearby hospital, witnesses said. Severed legs, hands and human flesh were scattered around the area. The huge blast damaged nearby shops and parked cars, and sent panicked people fleeing. In a separate attack in Musayyib, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Hillah, another car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint, killing at least one policeman and wounding several others, police said on condition of anonymity.
