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Bomb blast kills 8 in Baghdad

BAGHDAD: A bomb exploded on Wednesday in a crowd of day labourers in central Baghdad, killing eight persons and wounding 28, police said. British troops intervened to drive off dozens of gunmen who laid siege to the Governor's offices in Basra, apparently to avenge a tribal leader killed the day before.

The blast occurred about 11:10 a.m. in the Nahda district. All the dead were civilians but four policemen were among the wounded. First reports said the explosion was due to a car bomb but police later determined the explosive was not in a vehicle.

Clashes broke out in Basra, Iraq's second largest city, when members of the Bani Assad tribe attacked the Basra Governor's office, believing provincial officials were behind the killing of a tribal leader on Tuesday, according to an official trapped in the besieged building.

The tribesmen fled after British armoured vehicles arrived. — AP

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