At least 29 people were killed and 128 injured in two coordinated suicide bomb attacks in the central Iraqi city of Hillah on Monday, hospital and police sources said, as U.S. forces briefly detained the head of one of the country's leading Sunni political parties, dpa reported. Most of the victims of the Hillah attacks were police officers and police service applicants. According to a police spokesman, the bombers wore belts of explosives that they detonated at separate locations in the city, 100 kilometres south of Baghdad, dpa reported. The first incident occurred outside the governorate offices amidst a crowd of police who were demonstrating for the payment of their wages. The second explosion occurred about the same time outside the offices of the health directorate where dozens of men were queuing for medical examinations before entering the police force. Meanwhile the U.S. military apologized for the arrest of Sunni Islamic party leader Mohsen Abdel Hamid, and released him after interviewing him earlier in the day. --More 2212 Local Time 1912 GMT
