Car bomb kills 38 in insurgent show of strength

AT LEAST 38 Iraqis were killed and more than 100 wounded in a series of car bombings across Iraq yesterday.

Insurgents launched the attacks, mainly in and around Baghdad, the day after the country’s first democratically elected government was approved. On the same day, Iraq’s most-wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, purportedly threatened more violence and warned Iraqis against collaborating with the Americans in a message on the internet.

Seven American soldiers suffered minor injuries but none were killed in the attacks, said US military spokesman Greg Kaufman.

"We see these attacks as another desperate attempt by the terrorists to discredit the newly formed Iraqi government," US-led forces said in a statement.