10 children die in market blasts

TEN children were among at least 40 people reported killed yesterday as bombs tore through markets in two Iraqi cities shortly after nightfall.

A further 89 people were believed to have been wounded in attacks which came while both markets were jammed with shoppers buying dinner provisions as temperatures began to cool after sunset.

At least 25 people, including ten children, were killed and 33 wounded in a bicycle bombing in the Sunni Muslim insurgent stronghold of Baquba, 35 miles north-east of Baghdad, according to police officials in the city.

The blast in Baquba occurred shortly after a bomb went off in the main market in the mainly Shiite city of Hillah, killing at least 15 people and wounding 56, according to police captain Muthana Khalid. Hillah is the modern Iraqi city near the site of ancient Babylon.

Police reports from across the country yesterday listed at least 22 other deaths, victims of sectarian murders or bomb and shooting attacks.

The deaths, which came a day after the prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, unveiled a national reconciliation plan, made yesterday one of the bloodiest days in the country since al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a US air-strike.

• Russia's foreign ministry said last night that Iraq had become an "arena for terrorists" after what appeared to be the death of four embassy employees who were kidnapped in Baghdad four weeks ago.

An al-Qaeda-led group posted footage on the internet on Sunday of the killing of three men.